Marry First, Love Later With The White Cat Princess - Chapter 41

In the mountain hunting ground.

Yu Qingyue opened her eyes. Without needing to gather demon energy in her eyes, she could clearly see the horses galloping in the distance.

Exorcists and beast tamers were rushing towards this location. Not far from where she was meditating, the place where Qi Ran was located was the eye of the ancient fierce array.

The ancient fierce array would not affect humans. Yu Qingyue had completely deployed the isolation barriers, not sparing a single den.

The rest could be left to the human exorcists and beast tamers.

Yu Qingyue’s figure flashed, and when she reappeared, she was at the entrance of her own den.

This was a temporary resting place she had set up. To prevent accidents, she had to stay on the mountain until the ancient fierce array was completely broken.

Having set up an isolation barrier with such a wide range, Yu Qingyue felt as if all the demon energy had been drained from her body. She was now very tired, unable to even maintain her human form. As soon as she returned to the den, she transformed into her original form, lay down in the massive nest, spread her wings like a blanket over herself, and fell into a deep sleep.

Luo Binglun arrived at the location, her first thought was to search for Yu Qingyue. However, she searched from day to night but could not find any trace of Yu Qingyue.

The unease in her heart gradually turned into panic. Luo Binglun clenched her fist, and when she met up with the beast tamers, she directly asked, “Have any of you seen Physician Yu?”

The beast tamers looked at each other, and one cautiously said, “To be honest, Great High Priestess, we only saw Physician Yu enter the hunting ground, but we didn’t see her leave. She must still be in the mountains.”

“If she’s in the mountains, such a large living person, how could she not be found?!” Luo Binglun’s voice was trembling slightly.

The exorcists and beast tamers she sent had spent an entire afternoon searching almost every den in the hunting ground. The demonic beasts in the dens were indeed all asleep, just as Yu Qingyue had said, and didn’t react even when medicine was poured into them. But she… hadn’t heard any news related to Yu Qingyue.

If Qingyue was still in the mountains, where had she gone?

After a moment of silence, a beast tamer suddenly said, “Reporting to the Great High Priestess, there is actually one more den we haven’t investigated.”

Luo Binglun’s heart skipped a beat, and she frowned and asked, “Why not investigate?”

“The aura of the demon inside is more terrifying than the demon who set up the ancient fierce array,” another beast tamer interjected. “We’re not confident we could escape from its grasp alive.”

“The opponent is a Great Demon of the Demon Realm?” Luo Binglun was thoughtful. “Where is this den? I will personally go and see… If there is a demon of such a powerful threat near the city outskirts, as long as it remains, it could threaten the Kingdom of Zhuohuang at any time.”

She was quickly led to the uninvestigated den.

As soon as they approached the den, everyone else immediately felt the pressure released by the Great Demon inside, and their faces showed fear. Luo Binglun, however, felt that this pressure was very familiar. After a brief thought, she told her subordinates to step back, and she walked forward alone, touching the barrier at the cave entrance.

As she expected, the barrier did not stop her but allowed her to walk inside the cave.

Luo Binglun raised the torch in her hand and noticed a faint light burning deep within the den. She felt extremely nervous.

If the Great Demon entrenched here was truly Qingyue… no wonder she told her not to come up the mountain.

Taking a few deep breaths, Luo Binglun slowly walked towards the depths.

She deliberately used a footwork that made no sound, holding the torch in one hand and the Demon-Slaying Sword in the other, approaching the demon very quietly.

A bird’s nest appeared in her line of sight. Near the nest, there was also a campfire and cooking utensils. The faint light came from the unextinguished fire, and the cooking utensils were spotlessly clean.

Luo Binglun, however, did not want to continue walking, nor did she want to approach the nest. She was afraid that Yu Qingyue was indeed lying in the bird’s nest.

However, just as she stood there contemplating retreat, the sound of a stone wall rising suddenly echoed behind her.

“Qingyue…” Luo Binglun couldn’t help but call out. She tried hard to keep her voice from shaking, gripping the torch tightly and staring at the nest.

“Another human?” A sharp female voice sounded in her ear, laced with impatience. “I have eaten my fill. Leave quickly, and don’t disturb my rest.”

Luo Binglun was immediately struck as if by lightning. The torch in her hand fell to the ground. The firelight flickered a few times and went out, leaving only a wisp of black smoke and a smell of scorch.

“You ate… a human?!” Luo Binglun felt her hands and feet grow cold, and the hand holding the Demon-Slaying Sword also trembled. “What did that person look like? Was it, was it a man or a woman?”

“What human I eat, what does it have to do with you?” The demon sneered, but answered her anyway. “It was a cold faced woman, wearing a moon-white long dress, covered in the smell of medicine. It tasted so bitter…”

Before she could finish speaking, a loud clang of a sword was heard, followed by a snowy bright sword light that flew through the air. The face of the person holding the sword magnified before her eyes, and her eyes were filled with tears.

“I will kill you!!” Luo Binglun roared with red eyes. Before the sword could strike the demon in the nest, she was swatted away by the opponent’s wing, grunting as she fell onto the straw.

Luo Binglun struggled to get up. Only one thought remained in her mind: to kill this Feather Demon who had devoured Yu Qingyue!

A pair of hands suddenly cupped her face. Luo Binglun raised her head with hatred, but when she met a pair of eyes that were all too familiar, she was stunned.

“‘The Heaven-grade Physician of Liuzhi Kingdom was eaten by a Great Demon. To compensate the Great High Priestess who was deeply saddened by the loss of her close friend, the Great Demon willingly becomes her demon guard’,” the Feather Demon said emotionlessly. “What does the Great High Priestess think of this?”

Luo Binglun was stunned for a long time before she recovered. When the Feather Demon embraced her, her heart was filled with mixed feelings of sorrow and joy, and she tightly clutched a feather by her hand.

“Is this the solution you came up with?” Luo Binglun murmured. “A way to stay by my side?”

The aura emanating from the Feather Demon was all too familiar to her. Without the need for her to test, Yu Qingyue had directly laid her cards on the table.

“Yes. This way, the world will only know that the Great High Priestess has subdued a Great Demon and gained a great opportunity. I can then openly stay by your side, just like your disciples,” Yu Qingyue leaned close to her ear and whispered, “As for the whereabouts of Physician Yu, only you and I will know.”

Luo Binglun broke into a tearful smile, shaking her head and saying in the Di tribe language, “May the Fire God forgive me! This is truly a terrible plan… The person devoured by the Great Demon is a Heaven-grade Physician. One may not be cultivated even in ten years.”

“When I decided to come to the Kingdom of Zhuohuang, I never thought of going back,” Yu Qingyue said faintly. “If my death is announced, Liuzhi Kingdom will no longer search for my whereabouts, nor will they hold Zhuohuang Kingdom accountable, unless I leave this city.”

She paused, “But you… why aren’t you surprised that I’m a demon?”

The snow-white wings encircled Luo Binglun, and the soft down gently brushed against the back of her neck.

“I still remember you saying that as long as you were the Great High Priestess, you would not form a bond with a demon,” since she received no response from Luo Binglun, Yu Qingyue continued, “It’s only been a few days, and you’ve already gone back on your word?”

“I intentionally said that for you to hear,” Luo Binglun admitted. “If you were a demon, I… could reluctantly accept it.”

“A fine ‘reluctantly accept’!” Yu Qingyue sneered, reaching out and pinching her chin, her sharp, slender claws pressing against her throat. “You have no room for hypothesis anymore; I am a demon. If you dared to enter a Great Demon’s den tonight, you either kill me or enter into a contract with me.”

When she disguised herself as a human, Yu Qingyue was cool and aloof, but when she reverted to a demon, her wild and ruthless nature was completely unrestrained. However, Luo Binglun was more familiar with this version of Yu Qingyue, and a look of nostalgia appeared in her eyes.

After meeting her gaze for a few moments, Luo Binglun tossed the Demon-Slaying Sword away.

She knew that Yu Qingyue had given her a chance. As long as she stayed in the Osmanthus Hall and didn’t go up the mountain, she wouldn’t have known that Yu Qingyue was a demon.

But she still went up the mountain, even injuring Liu Fenyun and Lianyi who tried to stop her, all for no other reason than to confirm whether Yu Qingyue was human or demon.

Thinking of this, Luo Binglun suddenly recalled the rejection four years ago at that time, Yu Qingyue must have intended to have a shorter pain rather than a prolonged one, to avoid causing her pain and embarrassment after her demon identity was exposed.

“I will not kill you,” Luo Binglun shook her head. “Entering into a contract with you… is also impossible.”

Once a contract was formed, they would be in a master-servant relationship, which was unequal.

She respected Yu Qingyue and was also infatuated with her. She could not accept turning her relationship with Yu Qingyue into a master servant one, regardless of who was the master.

“Do you have another way?” Yu Qingyue asked with cold eyes.

Luo Binglun fell silent, merely hugging her wing and smoothing her feathers.

The touch was very familiar. She couldn’t help but remember the gyrfalcon Yu Qingyue had given her, and she suddenly understood.

“So you are A’Qing, and A’Qing is you. No wonder you arrived so quickly when I was poisoned and near death,” Luo Binglun recalled. “Then all the words I wrote and said over the years, you also saw.”

“‘Luo Binglun loves Yu Qingyue’,” Yu Qingyue recited without emotion. This was one of the phrases Luo Binglun had written on paper using her own blood as ink.

Luo Binglun managed a faint smile, “Since you knew everything… why did you still force me to respond to your advances? Back then, you didn’t offer a single word of explanation, and I blamed myself until now, thinking I had offended you. But you… you seem to have forgotten that incident, being intimate with me, arbitrarily making light of my feelings, just because you knew I liked you?”

She did not feel joy, only a sense that she had been mocked for four whole years, and all her supposedly secret thoughts were known to Yu Qingyue.

She felt like a joke.

Seeing the surprise in Yu Qingyue’s eyes, Luo Binglun lowered her gaze and said, “As a demon, perhaps you truly cannot understand human emotions my love for you is true, but the resentment I hold towards you cannot be erased with a few explanations or emotionally charged words.”

She didn’t want to say anything more. Yu Qingyue had become a demon in her heart, causing her inner self to become sick.

Since ancient times, illness of the heart has been the hardest to cure.

Seeing her distressed expression, Yu Qingyue pondered for a moment and said, “In that case, my apology is useless. Then you tell me, what must I do to earn your forgiveness?”

“…Whether or not to enter into a contract, you must give me time to consider,” Luo Binglun whispered. “I don’t want an unequal relationship with you. Besides, the fact that you are a demon has greatly shocked me. I need to calm down.”

Her thoughts were already in chaos. She needed to calm down first and seriously consult her inner feelings.

Yu Qingyue did not try to keep her, merely saying, “There is one more thing. Qi Ran has promised me that she will no longer interfere with the fierce array. The array will dissipate on its own in three days. You only need to instruct your subordinates to bring all the men out of the hunting ground and then seal the mountain.”

Seeing Luo Binglun’s surprise, she explained, “She is my fellow disciple. I came to the human realm to bring her back and apologize to my master.”

Luo Binglun remained silent.

“Since you are unwilling to enter into a contract with me, for your sake, I can serve as the city’s guardian spirit beast for three years for the Kingdom of Zhuohuang,” Yu Qingyue continued. “The same goes for Qi Ran. Although her original intention was simple, she did kill innocent humans after all.”

“The ancient texts do mention guardian spirit beasts,” Luo Binglun whispered. “To be honest, there has always been an area in the Priestess Hall and the Saintess Hall designated for a guardian spirit beast to rest.”

“In that case, humans and demons must have coexisted within the borders of the Kingdom of Zhuohuang in ancient times,” Yu Qingyue said.

Luo Binglun nodded, unconsciously continuing the conversation, “But later, the Great Demon and the Heaven-grade Exorcist drew a line, dividing the continent into the Human and Demon Realms. The entire Demon race migrated to the Demon Realm, and only a few remained in the Human Realm.”

Yu Qingyue immediately showed a look of mockery, “The Human Realm today is far less tolerant than before.”

Leaving the den, Luo Binglun pondered in the cool night wind for a while. She feigned a lost and distraught appearance and walked to the nearby camp.

The exorcists and beast tamers quickly ushered her to a seat when they saw her lift the tent flap and enter.

“Great High Priestess, what is the situation inside the den?”

“Have you… talked with that Great Demon?”