Chapter 26 Part 1

Li Jiangying looked around, picked up a stone, and as that mischievous snake tail crept further up, smack! she smashed it down.

A shower of sparks erupted. The stone shattered. The tail shook off the debris and continued wrapping around Li Jiangying’s leg.

Silently, Li Jiangying stood up, brushed off her hands, and pulled her foot free. She picked up a skewer of sizzling meat-wrapped greens roasting on a branch and walked over to Li Yueying, who was sprawled by the stream bank.

She tugged her hair upwards: “Open up.”

Li Yueying instinctively opened her mouth wide, and a piece of hot meat was tossed inside. She smacked her lips, chewed twice, and then suddenly froze. Her eyes reddened as she stared darkly at the expressionless Li Jiangying and resentfully swallowed the meat.

“Tasty?”

Li Yueying didn’t speak.

“Want more?”

Li Yueying slowly turned her head away, staring intently at Li Jiangying’s reflection in the stream water. Both hands traced the outline of the reflection in the water. She extended her tongue and licked at the reflection again and again, drinking the water.

Li Jiangying let out a cold laugh, thinking she had finally been tamed. She returned to the rock and resumed her work. But then, this madwoman saw that the Li Jiangying in the water had disappeared and started secretly flicking her tail over to harass her again.

Maliciously grinding her teeth, Li Jiangying grabbed her tail and held it over the fire. Whoosh! The unruly, hateful snake tail finally retracted.

The work of roasting jerky continued, while the task of carrying water was just beginning. Li Jiangying found several sections of dry wood, roughly as thick as a calf and as long as a forearm. She peeled off the rough outer bark. When it came time to hollow out the inside, Li Jiangying hesitated, holding her short sword.

This was a meticulous task requiring patience and control. Although Li Jiangying could do it, using only a short sword was difficult. It would be much better if there were an easier way to hollow the wood.

Mulling this over, Li Jiangying’s gaze drifted to Li Yueying, only to find Li Yueying already looking at her.

Li Yueying had her arms folded, resting her head on them, her face turned sideways to watch Li Jiangying sitting on the rock whittling wood. Her long hair hung down, obscuring most of her face, revealing only a single blood-red, vertical pupil fixed intently on her prey.

Li Jiangying beckoned to her: “Come here, come here.”

Instantly, Li Yueying propped herself up. A snake’s body is flexible, capable of strange postures. Thus, the snake demon, whose tail had been stretched out beside Li Jiangying, suddenly tensed her waist, retracted her tail, and her upper body sprang over to Li Jiangying’s side.

Li Yueying spread her arms and hugged her Jiangying, refusing to be refused. She kissed her on the tip of her ear, murmuring, “Jiangying, I’m right here.”

After speaking, she went crazy with excitement again, her sharp teeth nibbling at the shell of Li Jiangying’s ear. She babbled, “Jiangying has to do it too. Jiangying, always stay by my side… hee hee…”

Her ear bitten red and itching, Li Jiangying frowned helplessly and pushed the insane snake woman: “Save it for later, we have serious work! Didn’t you say you’d give me everything? Here, here, a task for you.”

The snake demon was still unwilling to let go of Li Jiangying easily, only tilting her head to follow Li Jiangying’s gaze to the wood in her hand. Li Jiangying knew talking alone was useless, so she grabbed one of the snake demon’s sharp claws and aimed it at the wood, saying:

“Hollow out a hole from here down. It needs to be smooth, round, and don’t break through the bottom. The wall of the cup should be about this thick. Come on, give it a try.” Li Jiangying explained while demonstrating. After explaining, she shoved the wood into her hand. “Begin.”

The snake demon, now holding a piece of wood, was momentarily stunned. Li Jiangying seized the chance to slip out of her embrace: “Quickly, quickly, save time.”

Unable to refuse Li Jiangying’s request, she took the wood and began hollowing it. To be fair, those claws were truly useful. They pierced the wood as easily as tofu, making hollowing a wooden cup child’s play.

Seeing her do well, Li Jiangying couldn’t help but smile as she pushed the other five pieces of wood in front of her: “Do a good job; here’s more. Tsk, I didn’t expect a snake like you to have such capable claws.”

While Li Yueying hollowed out the cups, Li Jiangying began whittling the lids. Li Yueying worked much faster. By the time she had finished hollowing six cups, Li Jiangying was only half done. But the snake demon’s tasks weren’t over; she still had more to do.

“Look here. Shave off an outer ring at the mouth of the cup, about half a finger’s width—don’t use your claw to measure, look at my finger! Continue. This way, the cup’s mouth will be a bit thinner than the body. But don’t shave the outer mouth completely flat; we need to leave a protruding thread ring.”

Li Jiangying used the dagger to lightly scratch a circular line around the outside of the cup’s mouth to demonstrate. She planned to mimic the bottle-cap design from modern society. This way, they could carry water without worrying about it spilling easily.

Just as she was halfway through her demonstration, Li Yueying suddenly took the half-finished wooden cup from her hand and, in a few swift motions, perfectly carved the cup exactly as Li Jiangying had envisioned!

“Jiangying.” Li Yueying bit her lower lip, smiling at her. “I’m not stupid. I know what you want.”

“Yeah, you’re not stupid right now. If only you could never be stupid!” Li Jiangying shrugged. “In that case, carve the remaining five the same way. Once I finish shaping the lids, I’ll tell you how to whittle them.”

“I know. You need to carve corresponding grooves so they screw together, right?” Li Yueying smiled, bringing her face close to Li Jiangying’s. There was a subtle, almost doting feeling in her expression. “Jiangying is so silly. I’ve seen these things long ago.”

For a moment, Li Jiangying didn’t know whether to be angry at being called stupid or surprised that this design had already been invented.

Then she heard Li Yueying say, “But it’s okay. I won’t dislike Jiangying for being stupid.” She reached out and gently stroked her face, like a sigh. “If Jiangying is too smart, she will run away.”

Li Jiangying: “Since you’re so clever, I’ll leave the rest of the work to you!”

The capable should do more work, humph!

Leaving the cup-making to Li Yueying, Li Jiangying selected supple, long dead grass and began twisting it into rope. She twisted and twisted until her palms were red. So, after Li Yueying finished carving the wooden cups, the rope-twisting task was also handed over to her.

Li Yueying was capable, but she had overly sharp claws. To prevent her claws from slicing through the hard-won rope, she was ordered to work with her fingers held up and out of the way.

Li Jiangying, meanwhile, took the finished wooden cups to the stream to wash and fill them with water. After screwing on the lids, she turned them upside down. The seal was good. She nodded with satisfaction. Looking back, she saw Li Yueying, her ten fingers sticking up, carefully twisting the rope with her palms. Her expression was focused, with a hint of grievance.

Li Jiangying couldn’t help but laugh.

The morning passed quickly. The clothes had dried. Li Jiangying put on her soft armor and used her outer robe as a wrapping cloth to pack the jerky.

Although the soft armor was damaged, wearing it was better than not. At least it could still block frontal attacks.

Some jerky was lean, some fatty. The dry, lean ones could be preserved for a while. The sizzling, oily pieces were shared between Li Jiangying and Li Yueying to fill their bellies.

When handed the meat, Li Yueying seemed to remember the scalding sensation from before. She glared at the meat-wrapped greens for a long time before stuffing them into her mouth, chewing with a determined look. Halfway through chewing, she realized it wasn’t hot, and her expression calmed. Then, she clung to Li Jiangying again, nuzzling her while eating.

Li Jiangying was too tired to bother with her anymore.

The jerky was wrapped and slung onto her back. The six water-filled wooden cups were tied in three pairs with the grass rope, one end on each side, and hung around her neck.

Finally, looking at her reflection in the stream, Li Jiangying felt dazedly as if she were a wandering beggar…

Dusk, Moon Shadow Devil Palace.

Magnificent sunset clouds hung in the sky. Gentle, dusky light spilled across the land. The heavy stone doorway of the grand, towering, stone-built structure—worn and broken, its base littered with crushed stone—was slightly ajar.

Outside was warm light; inside, cold darkness. A figure, almost blending into the darkness, stood in the shadows behind the door, staring motionlessly at the fading light outside.

A long time passed. The sun set in the west. The bright light vanished. After nightfall, the light of stars and the moon replaced the sun. It was clear, cold, yet exceptionally beautiful.

The silent figure, seemingly lacking any presence, finally stepped out from within the door. She wore a long, hooded black robe that brushed the ground. With each step, a faint, clicking clack sound came from her.

When she looked up to see the path, half of a terrifying skull was revealed beneath the large hood. Within the empty orbits of her eye sockets, two clusters of ghostly blue Soul Fire burned.

The skeleton seemed to move slowly, but in the blink of an eye, she traversed the wide courtyard wall. Very quickly, she reached her destination.

This was Liang Yiman’s residence, a palace located in a remote corner, but it was one of the most beautiful and opulent places within Moon Shadow Devil Palace. After all, the Devil Venerable’s palace frequently suffered destruction, but Liang Yiman rarely took out her anger on her meticulously decorated home.

It was also the most bustling place in the Moon Shadow Devil Palace, for besides Liang Yiman, many cauldron furnaces lived here.

Sensing an unfamiliar aura approaching, Liang Yiman started up from her couch in alarm and hurried out to greet them. ‘Who could it be?’

Just as she stepped into the courtyard, she saw the skeleton in the massive hooded black robe.

“Who are you…?” Her presence was near nonexistent, difficult to detect easily, suggesting her strength far surpassed her own. Yet, there was no hostility, nor any reaction from the Palace Protection Grand Array.

The skeleton opened her mouth, producing a clack-clack sound. She quickly realized she couldn’t produce sound with bone, so she manipulated the wind to vibrate, emitting ethereal, ghostly speech: “The Devil Venerable and Jiangying… where are they?”

‘She knows Her Highness and even Miss Jiangying?’

Liang Yiman suddenly recalled her early days at Moon Shadow Devil Palace. Back then, Cui Yu and the others hadn’t arrived yet. There were still a few seniors residing in the Devil Palace—though naturally, these seniors weren’t from the very first group when the palace appeared.

Back then, Liang Yiman had curiously asked if none of the subordinates from the Moon Shadow Devil Palace’s origins had been willing to stay. The senior had smiled mysteriously and told her a rumor, the veracity of which was unknown.

The rumor was that within this vast, majestic Moon Shadow Devil Palace, there was a grand tomb, and inside lived a Tomb Guardian. She had been there since the Devil Palace was first built, but she had never emerged from the tomb.

And that tomb chamber—no one could enter except Her Highness. Therefore, this Tomb Guardian must be waiting for Her Highness to die so she could bury her.

Liang Yiman hadn’t believed this strange rumor, but the tomb did exist, sitting alone in a corner of Moon Shadow Devil Palace. The heavy stone door was open a crack, but except for Li Yueying, no one could enter.

Now, Liang Yiman inevitably thought of this rumor. She probed hesitantly, “Are you… Lord Tomb Guardian?”

The skeleton was silent for a moment, then habitually clacked her jaw, not forgetting to use the wind to speak: “Tomb Guardian… yes, that is me.”

She continued to ask, “Yueying, Jiangying… where are they?”

“Her Highness and Miss Jiangying left together. Her Highness is injured and needs medicine. To prevent it from being stolen, she had to go personally.”

The Tomb Guardian stood in the night wind, her body nothing but white bone and Soul Fire. Unable to express her emotions directly, she asked Liang Yiman what had recently happened. Liang Yiman briefly explained, pointing out their destination.

“Form-Shifting Pill?” The Tomb Guardian’s voice drifted like a ghostly wail. “No… cannot take this medicine. It will, will…”

She didn’t finish the consequences. Instead, she turned and walked away into the darkness. In the blink of an eye, the Tomb Guardian vanished into the silent night.