They Are Archenemies, But They Have A Child - Chapter 12

Chapter 12: The Demon Pillar

After Qu Wen left, Cloud Qingwu continued exploring upward alone for a while. As Qu Wen had mentioned, the busiest and most prosperous area was in the middle section. Using this as a watershed, as he walked further up, ordinary residences visibly decreased, replaced by single, larger, and more prominent houses.

He stopped going upward and prepared to turn back. Along the way, he had carefully observed the people and the environment but hadn’t caught any trace of anything abnormal.

There were no demonic disturbances here, and this was not the lost homeland he was familiar with.

Upon returning to the Qu family courtyard, Qu Ping had already gone out. Only Sister Liu and Qu Lin were left in the house. In the main hall, Qu Lin was happily playing with Xiao Dao around the cradle. Sister Liu’s voice came from the room where he slept.

“Xiao Ci, for the main meal, I’ll make sour noodle chicken soup. It’s our specialty. Let’s see if you like it.”

“Mhm.”

Cloud Qingwu detected cold indifference in the simple reply, but Sister Liu didn’t seem to mind, continuing her enthusiastic introduction.

He couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

Living under someone else’s roof, yet he has no sense of the situation or awareness of his place.

Cloud Qingwu lifted the curtain and entered the room, instantly feeling that rolling his eyes once might not be enough.

He saw Sister Liu holding a broom and sweeping the floor, while Leng Lici sat cross-legged next to her, meditating with a clear conscience, showing no intention of helping.

It was as if this treatment was entirely his due.

He walked forward and took the broom from Sister Liu’s hand: “Sister Liu, I’ll do it. You should go rest.”

Sister Liu pulled her hand back slightly and smiled: “Oh, no need. I’m just doing it along the way.”

“You letting us stay here is already a huge help to us. If you insist on doing this, we’ll feel too embarrassed to stay any longer.” Cloud Qingwu extended his hand again.

Seeing this, Sister Liu could only hand the broom to Cloud Qingwu.

“This child,” she murmured, leaving the room reluctantly.

Once the sound of her footsteps faded, Cloud Qingwu stopped sweeping and looked at the half-fox who hadn’t moved an eyelid since he entered. His tone was sharp: “How can you let Sister Liu clean for you? This is the mortal realm, not your fox cave.”

Leng Lici still kept his eyes closed, his tone calm: “I didn’t ask her to do it.”

The implication was that she was willing, and it had nothing to do with him.

Cloud Qingwu took a deep breath, trying to reason with him: “If you did it yourself, Sister Liu wouldn’t have to.”

Leng Lici opened his eyes and looked at Cloud Qingwu, as if unable to comprehend what Cloud Qingwu was saying: “I don’t want to do it. You want to do it. I won’t stop you.”

Cloud Qingwu laughed angrily. Continuing the discussion was clearly pointless. He directly issued a command: “Go tidy up the bedding.”

The corner of Leng Lici’s eye curved into a sarcastic arc. The next second, he closed his eyes again.

He was completely resistant to persuasion.

Cloud Qingwu glared for a long moment, then suddenly chuckled. He picked up the broom and started sweeping: “Oh, so you don’t even know how to make a bed. Never mind, the capable ones do more work. I won’t force you.”

As soon as he spoke, the resistant demon immediately reacted. Leng Lici abruptly opened his eyes, got off the bed, and said coldly: “You don’t need to.”

Cloud Qingwu’s lips curled up in a victorious smile.

But this sense of triumph was completely gone when he finished cleaning the rest of the room and saw Leng Lici still wrestling with the blanket on the bed.

He sat on a nearby chair, his brow furrowed slightly.

This demon must be doing it on purpose!

It’s better not to see it.

However, when he came back after tidying up Xiao Dao, the demon was still by the bed. The blanket on the bed was crooked, twisted, and strangely crumpled.

Leng Lici pursed his lips, reaching out to spread the blanket again.

Cloud Qingwu closed his eyes briefly, stepped forward, and snatched the blanket: “Alright, I’ll do it.”

He couldn’t stand it anymore.

Leng Lici was unwilling. He instantly snatched the blanket back with a reverse hand movement, his golden eyes covered with a layer of frost: “I can do it.”

Cloud Qingwu looked at the pitiful blanket, then at the demon clinging to it, his expression unreadable.

Is this half-fox using this method to deprive me of the right to sleep on the bed?

“Fine, do as you please. Just don’t forget to compensate them if you ruin the blanket.”

Cloud Qingwu took a step back, sitting down on the chair instead. He was determined to see how long this half-fox could keep it up.

The sunlight outside reached its strongest point of the day, then gradually waned as time passed. The residual glow of the sunset sprinkled through the window cracks.

Cloud Qingwu looked at the demon, who was still tirelessly struggling by the bed, his expression growing more bizarre. This reached its peak after Leng Lici refused both the main meal and the evening meal.

He couldn’t understand the difficulty of folding a blanket, nor could he understand Leng Lici’s obsession with the task.

He put down his bowl and chopsticks, helped Sister Liu wash them, and prepared to return to the room.

No matter what, he was going to snatch the blanket back this time!

But unexpectedly, the “demon pillar” by the bed finally moved. The blanket on the bed was folded perfectly straight, and the “demon pillar” itself had returned to the chair, meditating with his eyes closed.

It was as if he had never been a “demon pillar.”

Cloud Qingwu glanced at Leng Lici, then at the blanket on the bed, and suddenly let out a sigh of relief. As this sigh left his body, a corner of his heart unconsciously softened.

He watched Leng Lici for a while, then turned and left the room.

What a trouble.

He carried the still-warm meal back to the room, placed it on the side table, and then pushed Xiao Dao, cradle and all, into the room.

After all this, the meditating demon hadn’t moved for a second, fully immersed in cultivation, as if completely undisturbed by worldly matters.

Cloud Qingwu let out a soft sneer, quickly spread the neatly folded blanket open, and lay down on it, facing the wall.

If the intense hunger, which was not his own, hadn’t been so overwhelming in his consciousness, he would have truly believed that this half-fox, despite lacking spiritual power, still possessed the ability to abstain from food.

It was only when the breathing of the person on the bed gradually stabilized that Leng Lici opened his eyes. His gaze fell on the meal next to him, thoughtful, as if contemplating some insoluble problem.

After a long time, his throat bobbed a few times. He looked at the bed again, then picked up the chopsticks and started eating. He started slowly, chewing meticulously, but the pace of swallowing gradually sped up. Before long, the generous portion of food was completely devoured.

He put down the chopsticks, used a cloth napkin to wipe his mouth, looked at the bed one more time, and returned to the chair.

The night deepened outside the window. Human voices were gradually replaced by the chirping of insects. The market, bustling during the day, had packed up, leaving behind a scene of desolation.

“Ding-ling—ding-ling-ling—ding—” The night watchman shook the silver bell in his hand, letting the sound echo through the mountain forest, startling a few birds, and announcing to the people that it was the second watch of the night.

Leng Lici closed his eyes. Sleepiness gradually crept in, and he soon succumbed to the silence of the night.

“Xiao Dao… Xiao Dao is gone too!”

The door curtain was violently pulled open, followed by Sister Liu’s panicked voice.

Leng Lici and Cloud Qingwu opened their eyes simultaneously and looked at the cradle not far away. The cradle was resting steadily in place, but it was empty, save for a rattle lying lonely inside.

Leng Lici’s eyes darkened. He rushed to Sister Liu and Qu Wen in a few strides, his bone sword drawn and pointing directly at their necks: “Where is the child?”

“I… I… I don’t know either…” Sister Liu looked distraught, her voice choking up.

“What are you doing?!” Qu Wen also reached for the short knife at his waist, his eyes wary.

Cloud Qingwu’s mind raced, guessing what might have happened. He stepped forward to shield Sister Liu and Qu Wen behind him, simultaneously using the temporary companion contract to soothe Leng Lici’s emotions, and said: “It won’t be them. You need to hear what they have to say first.”

Leng Lici looked at Cloud Qingwu, his gaze like a knife, but the action of his hand did not press any closer.

Cloud Qingwu turned to Sister Liu and Qu Wen: “What exactly happened?”

Qu Wen held his mother comfortingly and said in a deep voice: “This morning, we found that Lin’er was missing, so we wanted to check if Xiao Dao was still here. Now it seems those child traffickers have struck again!”

With that, Qu Wen angrily drew his knife: “When I catch them, I will tear them to shreds!”

“Lin’er! What are we going to do about Lin’er now?” Sister Liu became increasingly distressed and finally couldn’t help but shed tears.

“Since this isn’t the first time they’ve committed a crime, you haven’t managed to catch anyone after all this time?” A sinister shade clouded the golden eyes.

Qu Wen felt an invisible pressure. He held Sister Liu tighter, forcing himself to steady his thoughts: “They only strike at night. We’ve caught three individuals before, but they all acted independently, giving us no clues about the mastermind behind them.”

“They’re so elusive; I’ve always suspected the mastermind might not be human,” Qu Wen added with some frustration.

“Wen’er, what nonsense are you saying! We are guarded by the Great Bai Ze God! Evil spirits cannot enter here!” Sister Liu cried out anxiously.

“Wen’er, your mother is right. Quickly apologize to the Great Bai Ze God!” Qu Ping, who had rushed back after hearing the news, said sternly, muttering: “Great Bai Ze God, please do not blame him. The child doesn’t know any better.”

Leng Lici sheathed his sword when he saw this and shot Cloud Qingwu a look of mockery.

Red crept uncontrollably into Cloud Qingwu’s ears. He simply lowered his gaze to his shoelaces. When did he acquire this group of devoted followers?

But…

He closed his eyes and sensed the surrounding aura again. There was indeed no trace of any demonic presence, except for the half-fox beside him, of course.

“This matter is suspicious. We should sit down and discuss it carefully.” Qu Ping’s brow was slightly furrowed, and he constantly rubbed his sleeve with his left hand.

Cloud Qingwu’s gaze swept over him, unconsciously pausing for a moment. That familiar feeling appeared again.

He closed his eyes, forcefully pulling his thoughts back.

“Uncle Qu is right.”

Everyone calmed down and returned to the main hall.

“Since they strike at night, we should keep watch tonight and see what happens,” Cloud Qingwu proposed, then added: “However, we still need bait.”

Leng Lici took out a palm-sized wooden puppet from his robe, and with a fierce squeeze of its heart area, the originally lifeless puppet trembled, and a cry identical to that of a baby immediately sounded.

“What is this?” Qu Wen looked at the puppet curiously.

Leng Lici pressed it again, and the puppet quieted down: “It’s a puppet made from the root of the Wood Spirit Grass.”

Qu Wen’s eyes lit up: “Legend says the Wood Spirit Grass grows in the place closest to the sun, absorbing the essence of heaven and earth. Its root naturally possesses spiritual energy, capable of emitting a baby’s cry and curing all diseases. I thought it was just a myth! It’s actually real!”

Cloud Qingwu glanced at the puppet in Leng Lici’s hand.

Just how many things is this demon carrying?