Queen of Ten Thousand Demons Insists on Marrying Me - Chapter 9

Early the next morning, Lu Wanbai and Mei Yuanhua headed into the mountain to investigate the Mountain God Temple, while Tan Taijing and Lu Xiaoxiao staked out Zhu Liang’s house all day.

Quite a few people entered Zhu’s house, mostly laborers preparing for the next day’s sacrifice. Zhu Liang’s son was a local magistrate in the county, and besides two servants, there were no other close relatives in the household. The two watched all day but didn’t even catch a glimpse of Zhu Liang. They only managed to gather that he was a short, small old man with semi-white hair and a square face.

As night fell, the two slipped into the ancestral hall and knocked over the candles. The flames spread along the windows, forcing Zhu Liang to lead the servants out to fight the fire. Immediately after, the two found a quiet spot and climbed over the wall into the Zhu residence.

Zhu Liang was the clan leader of the Zhu family. If one were to list the wealthiest families in the entire town, Zhu Liang’s family would certainly be among the top few.

They first entered Zhu Liang’s study. Besides some classical texts, there were only a few letters from his son. Lu Xiaoxiao, holding the candle, put everything back in its original place. The two exchanged glances, both shaking their heads.

Lu Xiaoxiao took out the Sub-Meridian Compass. Seeing that it was still spinning randomly, she asked Tan Taijing, “The Sub-Meridian Compass didn’t point at you yesterday, nor was it spinning wildly. Did it detect Demonic Qi again?”

Tan Taijing took it and glanced at it, saying, “This spinning isn’t completely without pattern. I see it keeps swinging back and forth between the study and the main house. Let’s go check the main house.”

No sooner had they entered Zhu Liang’s bedroom and closed the door than they heard approaching footsteps. Tan Taijing quickly blew out the candle and pulled Lu Xiaoxiao into the wardrobe.

The wardrobe was truly cramped, with internal partitions, making it difficult for even one person to hide, which resulted in a very awkward posture for the two of them. Tan Taijing sat inside with her legs bent, while Lu Xiaoxiao had to kneel between her legs, with her head tucked in and her hands braced on either side of Tan Taijing’s face. They were so close that if one of them opened her mouth to breathe, the other could feel the warmth of the breath.

Lu Xiaoxiao glanced up and realized that Tan Taijing’s profile was so close to her own—if she leaned forward just a little more, she could kiss her… So she quickly lowered her head, maintaining this stiff, awkward posture.

Just then, a somber, angry male voice came from outside the wardrobe: “Fu Kang’an, you idiot! How many times have I told you not to cause trouble, and you still want to eat the boy and girl victims! You demons are nothing but trouble and will ruin things sooner or later.”

The voice of the person named Fu Kang’an replied in a weathered tone: “Hmph, you demons aren’t much better, are you? After lurking in Yao Xia Palace for so long, isn’t the Demon-Locking Pagoda still sitting perfectly fine on the back mountain of Yao Xia Palace?”

The unnamed man challenged and cursed back: “An idiot is an idiot. I’m here this time to tell you that Yao Xia Palace is already keeping an eye on this place. I advise you to quickly retract your tail, or you’ll be in for a nasty surprise this time.”

Fu Kang’an replied: “Relax, you should worry more about yourself. Don’t expose yourself one day and spoil the Demon King’s plans.”

“Hmph, what about the bones in the Zhu Ancestral Hall? No need for further nonsense. I’ve already dealt with the matter of the bones for you. The people from Yao Xia Palace arrived before me and might already be here. They should just be a few little Foundation Establishment stage brats. I don’t know if they’ve found anything, but make sure they all stay here tomorrow, and then you leave as soon as possible.”

Fu Kang’an said, “Got it, got it. I haven’t wanted to stay here for a long time. It’s so annoying being trapped in this old man’s body all day.”

Tan Taijing hadn’t expected other forces to also covet the Demon-Locking Pagoda. She wanted to peek through the crack in the door to see who the somber-talking man was, but she was so tightly pressed by Lu Xiaoxiao that she couldn’t move.

As her attention shifted to Lu Xiaoxiao, she realized the person was right next to her. Lu Xiaoxiao’s breath kept hitting her neck. She felt a scorching heat on her skin, and in her shame and anger, she raised her hand and covered Lu Xiaoxiao’s mouth and nose.

This was Lu Xiaoxiao’s first time eavesdropping, especially on two villains. She was already extremely nervous, afraid that her breathing would be too fast and loud, leading to discovery, and yet Tan Taijing was now covering her, preventing her from breathing. She was furious in her heart: Demoness, you’re trying to harm me again!

But she didn’t dare to move, for fear that they would be discovered and killed instantly in the wardrobe. However, if she continued to be covered like this, she felt she would suffocate and die. Such a humiliating death would be too embarrassing to spread around.

Lu Xiaoxiao’s foolish brain worked quickly: No choice, I can only…

Tan Taijing’s palm suddenly felt a wave of moisture. She immediately turned her head and glared at Lu Xiaoxiao. She never would have imagined that Lu Xiaoxiao could be so obscene—to actually… to actually dare to stick her tongue out and lick her palm!

However, if Lu Xiaoxiao knew what Tan Taijing was thinking, she would surely feel deeply wronged: That wasn’t licking! It was, at most, a slight push. What else was I supposed to do, let her suffocate me?

Tan Taijing was so enraged that she didn’t care that they were still eavesdropping in the wardrobe. She violently wiped her palm and then fiercely pinched Lu Xiaoxiao’s waist.

“Aah~ Ouch, ouch, ouch…” Lu Xiaoxiao twisted and crashed against the wardrobe door, falling out. She lay on the ground, frantically rubbing her waist.

Tan Taijing followed her out of the wardrobe and realized that the two people talking had already left during their commotion. She stepped forward, kicked Lu Xiaoxiao on the calf, cursed, “Shameless! Obscene!” and then chased after them. As soon as she left the room, she thought: Since the enemy is in the open and I am concealed, I might as well make good use of this advantage and not delay the mission.

She turned around, intending to return to Zhu’s house, but her ears were slightly red. She cursed under her breath again: “Lecher!” and returned straight to the inn.

Consequently, the scene Lu Wanbai and Mei Yuanhua witnessed was Tan Taijing entering the door with a slightly flushed face, followed immediately by Lu Xiaoxiao hobbling in, clutching her waist.

Lu Wanbai whispered to Lu Xiaoxiao: “You’ve got guts! You dared to provoke Fellow Daoist Tan Tai? You got what you deserved this time.” Lu Xiaoxiao didn’t care about the specifics of her ‘guts.’ She just wanted to know if all demons were that strong. It hurt so much that she even suspected she might have a fractured bone from the kick.

It wasn’t surprising that Lu Wanbai drew the wrong conclusion, as who had ever seen Tan Taijing blush? Mei Yuanhua, for example, had never seen it. Perhaps angry that his goddess had been bullied by Lu Xiaoxiao, he was now sitting on the stool, glaring at Lu Xiaoxiao with a strange expression.

Clearing her throat twice, Lu Wanbai said, “There is a Mountain God Temple five li (approx. 2.5 km) north of Zhujia Town, at the foot of the mountain. It has a strong flow of incense and many offerings. Since the Zhu Ancestral Hall was burned down by you, the sacrifice tomorrow will most likely be held there.”

Tan Taijing said calmly, “This matter is probably not that simple. I discovered tonight at Zhu’s house that Zhu Liang’s identity is suspicious. His real name is Fu Kang’an, and he is likely the transformed Ao-Qin. Moreover, he seems to have already discovered our presence and is very likely at the Golden Core stage of cultivation.”

Lu Xiaoxiao didn’t understand why she didn’t mention the Demon Clan spy lurking in Yao Xia Palace. She tutted twice and was about to speak, but she was glared back into silence by the other person. She reluctantly rubbed her waist, picked up a cup of tea, and quickly drank it.

“Then we must quickly report this to the Sect!” Mei Yuanhua was so startled that he forgot to continue giving Lu Xiaoxiao death glares.

Although Mei Yuanhua was one of the top Senior Brothers in Yao Xia Palace, his cultivation wasn’t particularly impressive. Lu Xiaoxiao had checked his stats the first time she met him; his attack power was only 80, not much stronger than her own.

Sure enough, the moment he opened his mouth, he was coldly stopped by Tan Taijing: “If Senior Brother Mei has so little confidence in us, you might as well return to Yao Xia Palace first. Lu Wanbai and I are both a step away from breaking through in our cultivation. We are not without a chance against an Ao-Qin. We might even break through to the Golden Core stage after this battle. Right, Senior Sister Lu?”

Lu Wanbai turned to look at Lu Xiaoxiao. Seeing that she had no intention of returning to Yao Xia Palace, she also enthusiastically chimed in: “Exactly! As long as Xiaoxiao protects the two children, you and I can have a hearty fight with that Ao-Qin. That should help me break through as well!”

Seeing that the others were not going to adopt his suggestion, Mei Yuanhua timidly waved his hand: “That’s not what I meant. I’m just worried that you… that you might be in danger.”

Tan Taijing shot him a look of disgust and replied, “There’s no need for that. You should worry about yourself.”

The next day, at the hour of You (5–7 PM), the sun set and the sky gradually darkened. The four split into two teams to guard the homes of the boy and girl victims, and planned to gather at the sacrifice location afterward.

“What kind of proper sacrifice takes place at night? Why don’t these people think for themselves? They just follow Zhu Liang’s every word,” Lu Xiaoxiao said with a frown, confused.

Tan Taijing looked solemn: “In a clan like this, the clan leader’s word is paramount.”

Lu Xiaoxiao hugged her arms and nudged her, asking, “What secret did you and my Senior Sister whisper to each other just before we came out? You even avoided Mei Yuanhua and me.”

“They’re coming out!”

As she spoke, four or five strong men were already carrying a small sedan chair out of Zhu Zhen’s house. Zhu Zhen and his wife wept and chased after them but were blocked by two large men. As the group walked out of the alley and out of sight, the couple was released by their blockers.

Lu Xiaoxiao glanced back, only seeing the two of them kneeling on the ground, clasping their hands and continually bowing toward Yao Xia Palace’s direction. She then tightened her grip on her sword and followed the sedan chair.

After following the group around a few corners, Lu Xiaoxiao tapped Tan Taijing on the shoulder and whispered, “This route is wrong. It doesn’t look like the direction to the Mountain God Temple.”

Tan Taijing: “You’re right. It’s the direction of the Zhu Ancestral Hall.”

Lu Xiaoxiao: “What? The Zhu Ancestral Hall was burned down. How can they hold a sacrifice there again?” She added, “Damn it, we still haven’t seen the other group with the sacrifice…”

From far away, a smell of scorching reached the nose, highly pungent. Looking from a distance, the Ancestral Hall was dilapidated, with a dozen or so blackened pillars lying haphazardly on the ground. As the group entered, the sedan chair being lowered stirred up a cloud of white ash from the ground. A few strong men set down the sedan chair and then quickly left.

The moment Tan Taijing and Lu Xiaoxiao entered, they saw a solitary sedan chair sitting in the gloomy ruins after the fire, accompanied by the faint sound of a little girl’s sobs. The scene was indescribably eerie.

After confirming that they were alone, the two lifted the sedan curtain. Inside, the little girl, as delicate as carved pink jade, sat with tears and snot running down her face, tightly clutching a wooden dragonfly in her hand.

Tan Taijing crouched down and said gently, “You must be Zhu Yujie. Are you cold? Are you hungry? Your mother asked me to come and get you. Your mother’s name is Rong Yu, right?”

The little girl had been crying the entire way. Just as her emotions had somewhat stabilized, seeing someone care about her, her nose felt sore, and she started to cry loudly again.

Lu Xiaoxiao’s eyes nearly popped out. She was witnessing the demoness look so gentle in her lifetime. She took two steps forward, crouched down beside Tan Taijing, gave her a look, and then reached behind her back to pull out a tanghulu (candied hawthorn) and stuffed it into the little girl’s mouth.

The little girl’s mouth instantly became sweet, and she stopped crying…

Tan Taijing looked at her and the tanghulu in surprise. She then held Zhu Yujie in her arms and used Lu Xiaoxiao’s sleeve to wipe away the girl’s snot and tears.

Allowing her to wipe her clothes with a blank, uncomplaining expression, Lu Xiaoxiao then pulled out two more tanghulu. She put one in her own mouth and offered the other to the demoness: “See, I bought one for you too.”

The three people inside the sedan chair each had a tanghulu, until the smallest one finished eating.

Lu Xiaoxiao said to her: “How about I hold you? I’ll take you to play a game later. This older sister here is going to perform a dance for you soon.”

The three stared at each other for a long while before footsteps finally arrived…

As the sedan curtain was lifted, Tan Taijing threw a flying sword at the face of the person outside. She then flew out of the broken sedan and said to the whip in her hand, “Gui Chen, it’s up to you.”

With a flick of her wrist, the whip cracked and lashed out at the person.