After Marrying the Disabled Demon Lord as a Substitute, I Ran Away with His Child - Chapter 56

Chapter 56

After obtaining the address provided by the long-bearded cultivator from the Long Family outpost, Long Xiaotian led his disciples to the small courtyard, only to find it deserted.

After searching the premises, the Long disciples reported to him, “Young Master, the place is empty. They’ve fled. Could our movements have been exposed? Impossible, we were so careful.”

However, Long Xiaotian caught a faint, lingering scent, a familiar aura belonging to someone he knew. In the next instant, his pupils dilated. He knew who it was: his Little Junior Sister.

But he felt a flicker of doubt. Little Junior Sister had vanished months ago, disappearing from the Xuan Cloud Sect without a trace. At first, no one noticed, until her signature spirit pills went out of stock at the Black Shop for an extended period. People stopped believing the excuse that she was in “seclusion.” Soon, news of her disappearance spread throughout the cultivation world, centered around Flying Immortal City.

“I heard that after the Second Senior Brother and Third Senior Sister went to cause trouble at the Xuan Cloud Sect, Siqiu disappeared.”

“The Demon Venerable went out to find her first, and then he disappeared too.”

“Could they be in danger? Siqiu’s cultivation is low, but the Demon Venerable is at the Tribulation Transcendence stage. How could such a master encounter danger?”

“Maybe he locked her up?”

“But she did nothing wrong! Why would he?”

“Ha, do you think a Great Devil cares about logic?”

After a few days of gossip, the realization hit the masses: “Wait! If Siqiu is gone, when will the pills be restocked? Other cultivators tried making multi-flavored Qi-Replenishing pills, but hers are the best and have the least pill toxicity!”

But Siqiu was gone. Eventually, people became numb, daily asking the shopkeeper the same question. The shopkeeper even hung a sign: True Person Siqiu has not yet returned.

A similar phenomenon occurred in the mortal city. Since Siqiu’s arrival, a high-quality, low-cost Grade-1 pill has flooded the market. It caused a buying frenzy until the supply suddenly cut off. People in the black market were frantic: “Is that alchemist not refining anymore? Did they go back to the cultivation world? We wouldn’t mind a price hike!”

Long Xiaotian had heard these voices. He knew Little Junior Sister and her sister had escaped together—after all, he was the one who provided the disguise technique. But why flee now? Connecting the dots between the black market here and the Black Shop in Flying Immortal City, he was certain: the mysterious alchemist was Zuo Siqiu.

Two days later, his disciples confirmed that someone had purchased a massive amount of body-reconstructing materials.

“It must be that witch!” a Long disciple spat. “She wants to refine bodies for those puppets? Body reconstruction isn’t easy, and the materials she bought aren’t even the primary ones.”

Long Xiaotian commanded, “Go back and report to my father that they’ve fled. I will pursue them alone. If I rescue our Elder and the other souls, I will bring them back to the family.”

“Alone, Young Master? It’s dangerous,” they protested.

“No, you are the future of the Long Family. You cannot risk yourselves.”

The disciples obeyed, though they were suspicious. Long Xiaotian had no intention of bringing them along to hunt Siqiu. He didn’t believe she could refine bodies so easily, but he trusted her and Mudong. He knew they weren’t building an army of puppets for evil, but likely trying to help those souls, including their own parents—return to life.

Once they left, Long Xiaotian set off alone, determined to protect his junior sisters.

…

Zuo Siqiu and Zuo Mudong traveled with extreme caution, avoiding all contact. This made things difficult for Xuan Mo, who nearly lost them several times.

Finally, Xuan Mo used a magic tool to completely seal his spiritual power and cultivation. He altered his appearance, intentionally scarring and burning his face until it was unrecognizable. He waited in a remote mountain forest for them to pass.

As Siqiu and Mudong approached, they heard the twisted, manic laughter of a group of thugs. They found several low-level cultivators bullying a thin, ragged man in a hollow.

“Let’s go,” Mudong whispered, frowning. “We can’t meddle in everything.”

Siqiu hesitated. At that moment, the man looked up. Though the sun was bright, his eyes remained cold and hollow. He was covered in blood, his left face a mangled mess of burn scars. His gaze was desperate yet eerily calm, staring straight into Siqiu’s soul as if he knew she wouldn’t save him.

Siqiu’s heart softened. She sighed, “I already saved a dog; what’s one more person?”

The “disfigured man” (Xuan Mo): “…”

They drove off the thugs. Siqiu offered him half a Grade-1 healing pill. The man swallowed it, his brow twitching slightly as if surprised by the efficacy. Soon, he could stand.

“Where do you live?” Mudong asked. “We can give you some money, but we’re moving fast. It’s not convenient to take you.”

The man didn’t answer. He just stood behind them. Mudong pointed out they were cultivators who would be flying, while he was a mortal. The man remained silent, his eyes fixed on Siqiu.

Siqiu sighed. “Sister, don’t you think his eyes look just like Xiao Huang’s (the dog)?”

Xuan Mo: “…”

“Fine,” Mudong groaned. “Consider it karma for the baby. Go into our Mustard Seed space. We’ll let you out once we find a place to settle.”

The man finally nodded. Once inside, Xuan Mo sat in a corner, brooding. Outside, he heard Siqiu say, “See? He’s just like a dog. Maybe he’s a dog’s reincarnation.”

They eventually found a secluded, scenic valley low in spiritual energy but perfect for hiding. Once settled, Siqiu released the four chickens, the dog, the soul puppets, and the Disfigured Man. As the animals ran off to mark their territory, the man stood stoically by Siqiu’s side.

“Why do you keep following us?” Siqiu asked. “Now that we’ve brought you here, you can’t escape.”

“It makes no difference where I stay,” the man replied in a raspy, damaged voice.

Siqiu nodded. He looked strong and perfect. “Since I saved your life, you can help us build a house. Three rooms… no, four, including yours. Make them big with large windows. Raise the floor to avoid dampness. Build a coop for the hens. I need my eggs and a kennel for the dog.”

Xuan Mo: “???”

“If you work hard,” she continued, “I’ll refine pills for you. Maybe you’ll even become a cultivator and live forever. No one will bully you again. Sounds good, right?”

She gave him a “big fat lie” of a future, then realized she didn’t know his name. “By the way, what should I call you?”

Xuan Mo was reeling. No one had ever dared command the Demon Venerable like this. Yet, because he had been solitary since childhood and no one had ever offered him a “vision” for the future, he felt strangely… comfortable.

Since you’re planning for my future and even want to lead me to immortality, he thought, I won’t settle scores with you for now.

…

The work had barely begun when Long Xiaotian finally arrived. He was shocked to see his Little Junior Sister holding a whip (which she had fashioned just for the aesthetic of being a “boss”), overseeing the soul puppets as they cut timber.

“Little Junior Sister?”

Siqiu immediately dropped her disguise. “I didn’t expect the Elder Brother to find me.”

Long Xiaotian looked at the puppets. “Did you… refine them all into puppets?”

“I saved them from my Second Senior Brother,” she explained. “They promised to work the fields to repay me, but after a few months, they tried to run to the Long Family, claiming my ‘luck’ in saving them didn’t mean I had the ‘strength’ to keep them. Could you stand that, Brother?”

Long Xiaotian’s lip twitched. He knew she was too kind for evil; it was the souls who were ungrateful. He told her about the Long Elder’s plea for help.

Siqiu sneered. “No wonder they were so bold. They had the Long Family as a backer.” She looked at him with irony. “Do you really think the Long Family wants to ‘save’ them, or just use them as resources?”

Long Xiaotian hesitated. “But the one who asked is a family Elder…”

“Brother,” Siqiu interjected, “did you know our Master once had a disciple poison me? And that Second Senior Brother tried to kidnap me for the Long Family to use me as a ‘medicinal primer’ for their Elders’ Tribulation Pills? That’s why I fled.”

Long Xiaotian was shaken to his core. He hadn’t realized his family had rotted to the point of using living cultivators as ingredients.

“I never knew you suffered so much,” he said with deep regret. “I should have stopped you from marrying into the Xuan Cloud Sect. I shouldn’t have believed them when they said you only did it for the dowry.”

“Forget the past,” Siqiu said, waving her whip. “I just need to know if I can trust you now.”

“I’ll help you build this house,” he offered, stepping forward.

Siqiu was delighted with more free labor! But she had a deeper plan. The Long Family was a threat to her and her unborn child. If she didn’t deal with them now, they would hunt her forever.

She began to whisper in Long Xiaotian’s ear, encouraging him to stage a coup. “Brother, have you thought about becoming the Head of the Long Family yourself? Not to betray them, but to save them. Do you want your kin to be shadow-dwellers who use others as fuel? If they continue like this, they won’t become Immortals, they’ll become Devil Immortals. Do you want the juniors to end up like your sister, sacrificed for the Elders?”

Long Xiaotian had never considered this. He was the “Young Master,” but he expected his father to rule until his ascension. Yet, Siqiu’s words struck a chord.

Zuo Siqiu watched him contemplate, hoping the “Protagonist” settings wouldn’t fail her. If he took over, her greatest enemy would become her greatest ally.

She didn’t notice the Disfigured Man in the distance. His face was pitch black with rage, his scarred features twisting into something truly demonic as he watched her lean in close to Long Xiaotian.