Chapter 33: Catching Demons (2) Part 1

◎She’s a woman now, not a girl anymore.◎

At his roar, several soldiers drew their blades instantly, darting through the tables like headless flies, searching everywhere.

The diners hadn’t yet reacted, still holding their chopsticks or gnawing on chicken, duck, and goose, when they saw the gleaming blades swimming past their faces. Shocked and furious, they were on the verge of erupting.

Just then, a server who’d been bringing dishes to a table suddenly straightened up, whipped the towel from her neck, and struck it precisely into a corner of the tavern.

There was clearly nothing there, yet a sharp smack rang out — she had struck something solid. The server immediately lunged forward and seized the disguised creature, forcing it into human form.

Beneath her fingers was unmistakably a rat demon with a long, pointed snout, tangled black whiskers, and cunning, darting eyes.

“Squeak, squeak, squeak.” The rat demon let out two sharp squeals, its tail slithering out from beneath its clothes as its blood-red maw gaped wide, attacking simultaneously.

The server instinctively reached for her waist, likely for a sword — but that space was empty now. She looked down in surprise. In that brief opening, the rat demon’s fangs nearly plunged into her neck.

At this critical moment, as if a handful of pure radiance had been scattered through the hall, a beam of brilliant moonlight broke through the sea of red and orange, descending from above.

A closer look revealed an immortal clad in silver-white robes — a moon leaping from the fragment of darkness on the second floor.

She landed gracefully, pinned the tail beneath her foot, and pinched the rat demon’s neck with two fingers, wrenching its mouthful of fangs away from the server.

In this motion, her veiled hat was knocked loose. Though the server caught it in time before it touched the ground, that face — more striking than frost or snow — was exposed to everyone’s view.

As the hat’s gauze veil fell, the server looked up, glimpsed the Immortal Lord’s true features, and froze.

The rat demon still writhed in her grasp, and the hall’s patrons had noticed her dazed state — until the server’s soft call broke the silence: “Senior Sister?”

At this, an eruption of shouts rippled through the hall.

“It really is Senior Sister? The one from the legends?”

“That’s Yun Jinxue of the Divine Zenith Sect, heir to the Sect Leader. In all the world, there’s only one person every cultivator calls Senior Sister.”

“Among the younger generation, someone with such immortal bearing — they’re vanishingly few.”

Dissonant voices also mingled within.

“Isn’t that stating the obvious? Someone who had so many cultivation resources poured into them — it’d be odd if they didn’t have some immortal aura.”

“Seems like this Qi Qiao Tree Demon will be taken by the Divine Zenith Sect.”

“The Yun Clan is wealthy and powerful — getting what they want is simple. They have plenty of methods. Drifters like us can only honestly go searching ourselves.”

A lazy female voice drifted down from the staircase: “The Qi Qiao Tree Demon hides in the Great Yan Forest. Finding it is a matter of personal ability, isn’t it? If you’re useless, why make all those pathetic excuses?”

Everyone looked up to see a woman in red, arms crossed with a long blade tucked in the crook of her elbow, slowly descending the stairs.

She was tall and slender, a black sash cinched tightly at her waist, wound several times around with the extra length swinging at her side.

The woman walked unhurriedly, robe corners fluttering, lips curved in a smile, yet not a trace of mirth in her eyes. Her voice was pleasant, but her words were decidedly barbed.

“So what if my family is wealthy? My resources are mine — I’d give them to a dog before an outsider. If you want something, go find it yourself, or use your skills to get yourself a good father. Nothing but sour grapes won’t help your cultivation.”

Hearing this, the cultivators who had spoken sourly earlier gulped down their drinks in silence. Their earlier words had just been momentary emotion spilling out. To speak again now would be insulting someone to their face.

Besides — why did that young red-clad cultivator radiate an oppressive pressure even heavier than the people from Mad Red Hall?

Jiang Yanyu deliberately sauntered across the entire hall before reaching Yun Jinxue and calling out crisply: “Senior Sister.”

The crowd was stunned again, examining her more closely. Belated realization dawned — this was the other direct disciple Yun Ding had taken a few years ago, Jiang Yanyu. She had become famous throughout the cultivation world for defeating all opponents in the final round of the disciple tournament in three breaths, two moves, and the time it took one incense stick to burn. She was also Yun Jinxue’s junior sister.

Though these two had personalities as different as heaven and earth.

Yun Jinxue nodded to her, then told the soldiers: “The demon is caught. Come restrain it again.”

The stunned soldiers finally reacted, hastily sheathing their blades, picking up the oilcloth and iron chains, and binding the rat demon hand and foot once more.

The rat demon’s eyes darted craftily, still wanting to escape. It turned — and a snow-bright blade gleamed before its eyes.

Following the blade upward, the striking woman in red raised an eyebrow: “I’m not keen to touch you, and even less keen for my Senior Sister to touch you. So behave, or I’ll slice off your legs.”

She said it so casually, but the rat demon seemed to already feel the agony of severed legs. Its whiskers trembled, and it stood still.

Yun Jinxue asked the lead soldier: “Where are you taking him?”

The soldier tightened the chain and cupped his fists: “Replying to the Immortal Lord — to the Demon-Ghost Supervisory Division in the capital.”

Yun Jinxue said: “I’ll help escort him there. This demon is cunning and might slip away in a crowd.”

The soldier was overjoyed: “Today I am truly fortunate to have your aid, Immortal Lord!”

Yun Jinxue said: “It’s nothing. Let’s depart.”

Suddenly, a jingling sound came from above.

Everyone looked up to see a richly plumed, multicolored bird fly down from the fourth floor and hover before Yun Jinxue, a fragrant letter held in its beak.

The third floor of Four Seas Delicacies could be used by those with money. But the fourth floor was specifically reserved for certain great clans — only those with immense wealth, power, and influence could have access.

Yun Jinxue took the letter. The bird called out twice, utterly delighted.

Only with such a grand gesture did people realize it was actually a mechanical construct.

Looking closely, you could see its body was merely assembled from paper and wood, but the craftsmanship was so intricate it appeared identical to a real bird.

Yun Jinxue opened the letter. The fragrance grew richer, yet didn’t suffocate — instead, it refreshed the spirit.

Focusing her gaze, she saw a single line of text:

Quan Feiyao of the Central Prefecture invites Dao Rhythm Immortal Lord to the Immortal Reception Garden of the Quan Estate for a conversation.

The words “Quan Family” surprised Yun Jinxue slightly.

Among the Nine Great Clans mentioned in the original book, the Quan Family of the Central Prefecture was the wealthiest, most powerful, and most influential — the head of the nine. And this Quan Feiyao was their most pampered youngest daughter.

A youngest daughter raised in the doting embrace of an entire family, who had always gotten whatever she wanted, raised to be arrogant and haughty. It was evident in this missive that could barely be called an invitation.

No pleasantries, no courtesy — Quan Feiyao’s prefix was simply “Central Prefecture.” And though the word “invite” was used, it faintly carried command or charity, as if this gesture was granting her immense face, and not coming would be Dao Rhythm’s loss.

Of course, no matter how formidable the Quan Family was, they couldn’t surpass the original author’s design for the Devil Beings. In the end, all these great clans wreaking havoc in the mortal world were swept away by the arch-villain later, not even ashes remaining.

Their appearance here now was likely also for Qi Qiao. After all, the Quan family had always excelled at mechanism arts and certainly wouldn’t pass up the Qi Qiao Tree Demon, born with the innate ability to manipulate mechanisms.

Jiang Yanyu also came over to look, a faint mocking smile on her lips: “Oh, a big shot.”

Yun Jinxue said: “You know of her too?”

Jiang Yanyu said: “How would I know her? I heard about her. But I’ve also heard another thing about this person — that she harbors inappropriate feelings for her own elder sister.”

That matter… did indeed exist.

But it wasn’t her blood sister — rather, the illegitimate daughter of the Quan Family Head, named Quan Danqiu.

She was the Quan Family Head’s daughter by a servant. Born with a fierce temperament and unwilling to suffer humiliation, when she discovered her younger sister had certain… improper intentions toward her, she fled overnight.

Yun Jinxue cast a light, sidelong glance at the little villain and flicked her on the forehead, pushing her head away.

She really did hear a lot of this kind of gossip.

But setting aside the matter of the clans’ eventual destruction, there was actually a small connection between the Quan Family and the little villain — though that would be left unmentioned for now.

An invitation from nobility was normally a good thing, but Yun Jinxue would not go.

Not because she resented the letter’s arrogant tone, but because she didn’t want to get entangled with the Quan Family.

The original work mentioned that the Quan Family was extremely vindictive, never letting go of even sesame-seed-sized matters. Without necessary benefits at stake, it was better to avoid contact.

Otherwise, one displeased remark bringing down the vengeance of such a powerful family was no joke.

As she was torn on how to reply, Jiang Yanyu saw she didn’t want to go, snatched the letter, carved two characters on it with the tip of her blade, and stuffed it back into the mechanical bird’s beak.

“Go on, return to your master.”

Yun Jinxue: “…What did you write?”

Jiang Yanyu said: “Not going.”

Yun Jinxue: “…”

She lowered her voice: “The Quan Family is not easy to provoke.”

Jiang Yanyu also lowered her voice to match: “People who don’t respect others don’t deserve respect. Let her choke on it, what of it? Don’t worry, Senior Sister. She definitely won’t dare do anything.”