After Provoking the Mad Beautiful Deity - Chapter 32.3

“Why haven’t you eaten? Is it not good?” Hongchen frowned and instinctively took the food from Yanlai’s hands. She called over a beggar, gave him all the food, and pulled Yanlai along to continue browsing.

Another half-hour passed, and Yanlai’s hands were full again. Hongchen repeated the process, giving the food to another beggar.

After three or four rounds of this, they finally arrived at an embroidery shop. Yanlai breathed a quiet sigh of relief; at least the eating had stopped.

The shop was large. Perhaps due to its proximity to Phoenix Mountain, the area was prosperous, attracting many merchants and even more cultivators, which bolstered the city’s trade.

Hongchen felt the satins and then the linens. Yanlai stood behind her with a cold gaze; not only the customers but even the shopkeeper was afraid to approach her.

Hongchen struggled with indecision. After thinking for a long time, she grabbed the shopkeeper and asked, “Can you sell this embroidery shop to me?”

The shopkeeper looked at Hongchen as if struck by lightning, speechless for a long time, before calling for people to throw her out.

The sudden turn of events left Hongchen bewildered. She looked at Yanlai. “If she won’t sell it, she won’t sell it. Why throw me out? I still wanted to buy clothes.”

“This market is quite large. Let’s look ahead; there won’t be only one shop.” Yanlai coaxed her.

They set off again. This time, Hongchen stopped eating and instead took an interest in various trinkets—masks, puppets, crickets. By the end, Yanlai was once again unable to carry it all. Taking advantage of the crowd’s inattention, Hongchen used a spell to move everything into a storage artifact and continued shopping.

Seeing another embroidery shop, Yanlai stepped inside first and warned Hongchen, “Don’t speak, or they won’t sell to you either.”

Knowing Hongchen had trouble communicating, Yanlai settled her down before leading her to look at fabrics. This shop was smaller than the previous one. After looking around, Yanlai shook her head; after seeing the first shop, this one was underwhelming in terms of variety and scale. The shopkeeper was busy with other customers and didn’t have time for them.

After a quick circuit, Yanlai led her out.

They continued on and encountered a peddler. Hongchen leaned in to look; it was all things women liked—rouge, powder, hairpins—but the quality was a bit coarse. Hongchen, having picky tastes, didn’t see anything she liked and pulled Yanlai away.

After a few steps, they didn’t see another embroidery shop, but instead found several cultivators bullying a woman. The two shared a look. Just as Hongchen was about to say something about the Immortals, Yanlai quickly covered her mouth.

Hongchen fell silent.

The cultivators held swords and were shouting insults. Yanlai looked at the woman being bullied; she carried demonic energy. Immortals and Demons were incompatible, and any meeting usually led to conflict.

One of the cultivators was injured, though not severely, while the other two continued to cast spells at the demon woman. Clearly, she was no match for them and was losing ground.

“Shouldn’t they set up a barrier to avoid hurting the commoners when fighting in the human realm?” Hongchen muttered, casting a spell to trap all four of them in a barrier.

Inside, the cultivators immediately stopped their attack and tried to break the barrier instead. “The witch’s companion must be here! Don’t think you’re leaving alive. Even if we die, we’ll take her with us!”

Their arrogance and hatred were palpable, as if they shared an irreconcilable blood feud. Hongchen was puzzled. “Why is there such deep resentment?”

“Every demon is someone to be executed,” Yanlai said.

Hongchen frowned. Am I really that disliked?

Yanlai’s face was dark. Hongchen rarely visited the human realm and didn’t realize how terrifying the Demon Race was in the eyes of humans. For tens of thousands of years, many demons had cultivated by draining human essence, killing to increase their power. At one point, human casualties were so high that the Immortals had to intervene.

Over time, the Immortals became perfect in the eyes of humans, while the Demons were seen as irredeemable murderers. Yanlai understood the cultivators’ rage. Hongchen grumbled for a while, unhappy that three people were bullying one weak woman.

Fortunately, the cultivators were focused on the barrier and couldn’t spare the energy to attack the woman. She lay on the ground, spitting blood, her expression one of extreme pain.

Unable to break the seal, the cultivators turned their anger back on the woman, kicking and punching her. Hongchen couldn’t bear it; she waved her hand to drop the barrier and shouted to the woman, “Run!”

However, the cultivators heard her too. They were already frustrated at not finding the culprit, and upon seeing her, they lunged with their swords.

How could lowly cultivators be a match for the Demon Lord? Before they could even get close, they were trapped by a burst of flame. They rolled on the ground in terror while the other two didn’t dare move. The woman on the ground took the chance to flee.

Hongchen patiently asked the cultivators, “Do you have a feud with her?”

The cultivators shook their heads.

“If there’s no grudge, why were you trying to kill her?”

“She’s a demon witch; everyone has a right to kill her!” a cultivator hissed in hatred. “She cultivates by eating human essence. Shouldn’t she be killed?”

“Did you see her eat human essence or murder anyone?” Hongchen continued her patient questioning. She herself didn’t eat human essence; she relied on her own hard work.

The cultivators looked at each other. Hongchen sneered. “What you see isn’t always the truth. To try and kill someone without even witnessing a crime… the Immortal Clan is plagued by people like you who can’t distinguish right from wrong. Get lost, before I get angry and kill you.”

The cultivators glanced at Hongchen, grabbed their swords, and ran.

Yanlai then said, “I placed a tracking spell on that woman. Shall we go see?”

“Why see her?” Hongchen wasn’t feeling particularly charitable.

Yanlai glanced at her. “Because she’s beautiful.”

“You’re starting to sound like me. Tsk tsk, you hypocrite.” Hongchen muttered a curse under her breath. “Aren’t we going?”

Yanlai grabbed Hongchen’s wrist and their pace quickened instantly into a supernatural glide. They followed the trail to a cave outside the city. The cave was small, only wide enough for one person, with traps outside and a barrier inside.

The double restriction suggested the person was recently at the Golden Core stage. Yanlai didn’t enter but looked at Hongchen. Hongchen pouted. “There are two people inside.”

After a moment of thought, Yanlai easily broke the barrier with a wave of her sleeve and waited for the occupants to appear.

Sure enough, the woman from before rushed out. She drew her sword to strike but lowered it upon seeing Hongchen. “It’s you.”

The mountain flowers were brilliant, their fragrance elegant and pleasant. The woman at the cave entrance leaned on her sword, her back straight. Her gray robes were tattered, but she didn’t move from the entrance.

“Who are you looking for?” the woman asked warily.

Hongchen’s gaze drifted to the other woman’s forehead. “How did you end up falling into a demonic state?”

“If I fell, I fell. Do I need to give you a reason? And you, why are you following me?” The woman raised her sword again, pointing it at Yanlai. “Get lost. Don’t go prying into my business.”

Yanlai looked at the plants near the cave; they were much more vibrant and lush than elsewhere. After a few glances, she said, “Is there someone from the Flower Clan in the cave?”

The woman’s face paled, and she lunged at Yanlai with her sword. Yanlai dodged and pointed at Hongchen. “This is a Lord of your Demon Realm.”

The woman stopped immediately and looked at Hongchen suspiciously. Hongchen glared at Yanlai. “Why is your mouth so big? I didn’t want to make a scene.”

“Demon Lord?” The woman dropped her sword and knelt before Hongchen.

Hongchen pursed her lips. “Is the person inside an Immortal?”

The woman was silent, seemingly hiding something. Hongchen didn’t press; love between an Immortal and a Demon was forbidden by both realms. Immortals saw demons as pure evil, and demons looked down on immortals.

“Demon Lord, Demon Lord, I beg you to spare her! Let her go, and I will let you do with me as you wish.” The woman abandoned her sword and prostrated herself, her forehead bleeding from the force of her bowing.

Hongchen looked at her, a wave of shock hitting her heart. “I… I will not be biased just because she is an Immortal.”

“Truly? Is that… true?” The woman was stunned, her forehead covered in blood. Hongchen felt a sense of helplessness. She waved her sleeve to heal the woman’s injury. For the first time, she felt powerless.

The world’s prejudice was too deep. Wherever these two went, they would be judged, hunted, and attacked until death.

The woman’s injury was healed, and she was immensely grateful. Hongchen wore a rare, somber expression, without a joke or an outrageous comment in sight. Normally, she would have mocked the situation. She stared at the cave in silence for a long time.

Yanlai reminded her, “It has always been this way. You have simply lived in a high position and never experienced the hardships of the weak.”

After a while, Hongchen processed it. She loved gossip, but she had never heard gossip about an Immortal and a Demon being in love. No one dared to speak of it; no one would use it as a joke.

She could only look at the woman with pity. “Go to the Demon Palace and find the Young Lord of the Tenth Hall. They will arrange a place for you to stay.”

She placed a mark on the woman’s forehead and gave her a swift-travel artifact. “This is all I can help you with. If you meet anyone from the Demon Realm, tell them you are someone I have saved. If any more blind Immortals bully you, I will take revenge for you.”

The woman was overjoyed, bowing repeatedly to the Demon Lord. Such life-saving kindness was greater than the heavens.

Hongchen waved her off and turned away, feeling dejected. Yanlai followed her.

Hongchen was unusually quiet, and Yanlai remained silent as well. They walked aimlessly through the beautiful mountain scenery, where wild flowers bloomed in abundance.

“Yanlai, do you think Immortals and Demons can ever live in peace?”

“No.” Yanlai shook her head.

Even if the Immortals agreed, the thousands of cultivators would not. Even if the Demon Lord agreed, the Night King would not, and neither would the thousands of demons.

The hatred of over a hundred thousand years could not be settled by a single word or action. It was a struggle until the end.