Chapter 193 - Going North (1)
Once everyone deemed that Shen Minyao was ready to be moved, Qin Zhi suggested that everyone should stay at his place in the meantime; while they waited for what could happen next. A certain someone related to Zhao Yichen would die tonight, and they expected to hear about his identity very soon.
"Do we really have to go?" Zhao Yichen asked, looking at the still unconscious demoness in Qin Zhi\'s arms. Qin Zhi didn\'t even look bothered by his sister\'s current disheveled look.
"What happened here would surely attract a lot of attention from everyone. We need to leave as soon as possible, or else some might suspect our involvement in this case," the demon lord replied, giving Zhao Yichen no choice but to agree with him.
"Just like what happened to the kindergarten a month ago?" Li Fei\'er asked.
"En, and it would be worse than that." The grim reaper was the one who answered her question. He had witnessed himself that not only humans would gather around the place… but also demons who wanted to know what transpired there and why a strong purification aura was lingering around.
A couple of blocks away from where Zhao Corporation was, the group was picked up by Qin Zhi\'s men, bringing two cars with them.
When they arrived at the Qin Estate, they were greeted by his human butler, Qin Zhihao. He had prepared everything ready, according to the demon lord\'s orders. When the old man saw Li Fei\'er standing next to Qin Zhi, he was momentarily stunned, but he recovered from his shock easily.
How could Qin Zhihao not be shocked when the young woman in front of him was exactly the same woman whom his master painted decades ago? Everything, from her facial features to the gentleness in her eyes, was just the same. From what his immortal master told him, the woman in the painting was none other than his human wife that had died as a casualty in a war centuries ago.
As if sensing what the butler was thinking at that moment, Qin Zhi shot him a look that told him to hold his tongue and not to mention it in front of his guests.
Shen Minyao was laid down on the same bed in the same room that she occupied during her first visit here; while Zhao Yichen and Li Fei\'er had been led to the other guest rooms where they could spend the night.
The two cat demons decided to accompany Zhao Yichen through the night, leaving their mistress in her brother\'s care.
Qin Zhi, Mu Qing, and Baiyu stayed in Shen Minyao\'s room, waiting for her to wake up. Yu Yan had done her share of helping treat her mistress, and the rest should be done by the fox demoness herself.
"Xuan Yanrui has been spotted making his way to the Northern Lands," Mu Qing said, breaking the awkward silence around them.
"En. It seems he decided to invade the Northern Lands and challenge Lord Lang\'s authority, but I\'m afraid that the old demon lord would only lose," Qin Zhi confirmed what the grim reaper had just said.
"So it\'s true that he had grown weak over the centuries?" Mu Qing asked curiously. He knew that the demon realm was separated into five major lands, with Qin Zhi being the Southern Lord and the wolf demon Lord Lang dominating the Northern Lands.
The three other demon lords must have been aware of Xuan Yanrui\'s intention. However, none of them had shown a sign nor intent to cooperate with the Southern Lord to defeat the disgusting demon-turned human emperor.
"It\'s only natural for a demon like us to weaken over time, but it depends on several factors. Even myself… I know I wasn\'t as strong as I used to be." Qin Zhi lowered his gaze to his human hands, wondering how long it had been since he felt thrilled by fighting on a battlefield. Ever since Feng Jiu\'s death and his sister\'s confinement, he had never been the same.
"Is it the same for her? With all the atrocities she had done in her past life, the netherworld would perceive her as a threat to humanity once again," Mu Qing explained, his eyes glancing at Shen Minyao\'s unconscious form.
"Her hands were tainted with the blood of over a hundred thousand centuries ago."
"Is that why you are hanging out with my sister? Are you waiting for a chance to strike her down?" Qin Zhi gave the other man a cold look, his demonic aura threatening the latter.
Baiyu, who was silently listening to their conversation, wasn\'t dumb. With little information, he was able to understand the kind of demon his mistress was, and it only made him feel satisfied that he had chosen a better master this time.
However, as Qin Zhi\'s demonic presence swirled around, the young snake demon was rooted in place and didn\'t dare to make a move. He had only been recently released by his mistress, and he certainly wasn\'t planning to die this early!
"Calm down. I was assigned to accompany her on a mission. My mission is to assist the female nine-tailed fox to kill Xuan Yanrui. The spirit realm, along with the netherworld, decided that Xuan Yanrui posed a greater danger to humanity than your sister."
Qin Zhi scoffed at that. Aside from the Li family, the spirit realm and the netherworld were also wary of his sister\'s presence.
"She wouldn\'t be pleased to find out that your superiors want her to do the dirty job for them. You should know this by now."
Qin Zhi still found it weird that his sister was being surrounded by odd acquaintances. Though, he wasn\'t surprised that Shen Minyao was with his wife\'s reincarnation, considering their strong bond in the past.
What surprised him the most was that Shen Minyao allowed this grim reaper to get close to her. Even if they didn\'t admit it, Qin Zhi could tell that they held mutual respect and understanding as if friends or close acquaintances.
"The spirit realm offered her a clean slate in return, for eliminating Xuan Yanrui," Mu Qing announced, which didn\'t surprise the demon lord one bit.
"Your superiors must be thinking I am stupid." Shen Minyao\'s voice startled Mu Qing, but not her brother. Qin Zhi was aware that she was about to wake up, considering the change in her breathing and heartbeat.
She forced herself to sit up, aware that her left arm was still injured. Although the broken bones were now healed by Yu Yan, the pain that shot through her was enough to make the fox woman hissed in pain.
"Mistress!" Baiyu jolted from his seat and stared at her young miss worriedly.
Shen Minyao tucked her long hair behind her ear and gestured at the boy to come to her.
Baiyu looked at the two men before crawling up on Shen Minyao\'s bed, taking a seat next to her.
"Bite my left arm and release your numbing poison onto it," she told him.
Baiyu stared at her with wide eyes. Even if the poison he had was only enough to numb a person, a poison was still a poison, right?
"Don\'t worry. You only need to inject a little. Your poison would never be strong enough to kill me yet." Shen Minyao chuckled once she saw the hesitation on his face.
Baiyu nodded and could only do what he was told. He gave Shen Minyao a glance before sinking his little fangs into her left arm. It only took him three seconds to release Shen Minyao\'s arm. He watched as her pale skin turned slightly red once the numbing poison he injected started to spread throughout her whole arm. However, what he didn\'t expect was for his mistress to isolate his poison, forbidding it to leave her arm and affect the rest of her body.
"Ah, that feels so much better. Thank you, Baiyu," Shen Minyao said before ruffling Baiyu\'s long silvery-white hair.
Baiyu lowered his head to hide his blush for being praised for the first time by his new mistress.
"I-It\'s nothing," he mumbled, earning an amused smile from Shen Minyao.
"So… do we extend some assistance to Lord Lang, or has he denied our involvement this time?" She then asked her brother, now aware that the two were discussing Xuan Yanrui while she was unconscious. How dare they opt her out of their conversation when everything they talked about was related to her?
"He hasn\'t made a decision yet, but I have received an official letter from his eldest son asking for cooperation," Qin Zhi replied. "Lord Lang\'s son might know of the situation there better than his father."
"Then, let\'s go there as soon as we eliminate all the blood-sucking demons that entered Jiang City," Shen Minyao suggested, but Qin Zhi didn\'t respond immediately as he considered his options.. It wouldn\'t be easy for him to leave the city unattended.