In the night, the Tomb Guardian, reduced to a mere skeleton wreathed in soul fire, half-living and half-dead, moved swiftly forward. She hated appearing in the daytime, so she could only act at night.
The Tomb Guardian, who had unfortunately taken a wrong path earlier, was forced to retrace her steps. She anxiously returned to the vicinity of Moon Shadow Devil Palace. She knew there were people guarding it, but they posed no real threat.
However, this time, she sensed a strange presence. Unable to resist, she slowed her pace within the shadows and headed toward the direction of that peculiar aura.
As she walked, she spotted several Black Cloaked figures. Such attire was common throughout the Devil Domain, but the unusual, non-Devil Domain aura faintly emanating from them drew the Tomb Guardian’s attention.
The group stood beside the statue of the Myriad Devils Ancestor in the long-ruined Primal Chaos Square. The statue was so dilapidated that it no longer resembled one.
Among the Black Cloaked People, one individual felt the most unique. The Tomb Guardian couldn’t help but look over. A longbow was slung across that person’s back as they looked up at the statue of the Myriad Devils Ancestor. After a long while, they cupped their hands and bowed toward the statue.
The Tomb Guardian silently passed by. As the wind blew, it lifted the person’s cloak, revealing a flash of pure white beneath.
Just after she had distanced herself, the Black Cloaked Person with the longbow suddenly turned to look in her direction.
Late at night, Chasing Moon City.
The night breeze ruffled the lake water. Even in the darkness, the ripples were so gentle they were intoxicating. But tonight was destined to be an unquiet night. A serious disturbance had broken out at the City Lord Manor of Chasing Moon City.
One of its primary culprits was quietly hiding beneath the rocky cliffs on the southeastern side of Mid-Lake Island, pacing back and forth in anxiety.
“Why hasn’t Sister Ying Suanli arrived yet?” Jiang Sujin murmured to herself. She looked up at the sky, calculating the time. The agreed-upon half-hour mark was about to arrive. Worry seized her heart.
She knew she was merely an insignificant character. After escaping in the chaos, no one paid her any mind, let alone pursued her. But Sister Ying Suanli and A Yue were different. They were clearly the main targets of focus.
“Could it be… they’ve already been caught and taken back? Should I go back and check?” Just as Jiang Sujin was about to turn around and sneak back, footsteps came from within the rocky cliffside. It was an extremely narrow cave, obscured by a jumble of rocks. A few stones were pushed aside and tumbled down.
Two women and one snake demon emerged in sequence, jumping down onto the sandy beach and facing Jiang Sujin.
Jiang Sujin cried out in surprise, “Sister Ying Suanli! A Yue! C-City Lord?!?!”
She looked at the Moon-Chasing Devil Venerable in shock. The woman’s clothes were dirty and covered in sand and soil. Her face was battered—a ring of bruising around her right eye, her left cheek swollen high, smeared with blood in a mess of blue, purple, and red. She was almost unrecognizable.
“Wh-what happened here?” Jiang Sujin looked helplessly at Sister Ying Suanli, trying to get an answer.
And her Sister Ying Suanli… her clothes were equally disheveled and filthy, as if she’d been sweating profusely. Her lower lip bore a deep mark, blood seeping from it, looking painful just to see.
The snake demon, A Yue, also seemed quite hurt. A whole ring of scales on her tail was missing. She was clinging tightly to Li Jiangying’s arm, incredibly sticky, but occasionally shooting Zhu Yue a hostile glare.
Jiang Sujin suddenly gasped, staring at them in horror, as if she’d discovered some dark, unspeakable secret.
Li Jiangying had no idea what scenario she had imagined. Under the moonlight by the lake, she nonchalantly fluffed her hair and stealthily adjusted the mask on her face. “It’s nothing. I just had a little sparring match with Fellow Daoist Zhu Yue. Now Fellow Daoist Zhu Yue has sincerely repented and joined my Spirit Vulture Palace, following me in cultivating the ‘Eight Directions Six Harmonies I Alone Am Supreme Art.'”
Zhu Yue: “Huh?”
Li Jiangying gave her a slight, meaningful smile.
Zhu Yue: “…Oh.”
Jiang Sujin looked a bit lost. The information overload was too much for her to process at once, so she just stared blankly at Li Jiangying.
Li Jiangying had no choice but to explain in simpler, more direct terms. “What I mean is, Fellow Daoist Zhu Yue is now like me—she can’t casually use her Devil Qi. So, Sujin…”
She looked at Jiang Sujin amiably, like a mouse spotting grain in a rice jar. “From now on, whenever we need spells cast, we’ll temporarily have to rely on your effort. You wouldn’t mind, would you?”
Jiang Sujin shook her head dumbly. “Of course I don’t mind. But… is the City Lord also coming with us?”
Li Jiangying coughed lightly. “Of course. She’s decided to renounce her name and cultivate in hardship, leaving the mundane world’s troubles behind to seek the Great Dao.”
But in truth, it was just that Zhu Yue, having lost all her cultivation, feared being usurped and murdered by her former subordinates. She didn’t dare show her face.
After all, they were Devil Cultivators. That was just how ruthlessly they turned on each other.
The starry sky of the Devil Domain always emanated a faint red glow, magnificent and strangely bustling. The starry sky was reflected in Bright Moon Lake, making even the deep, dark water seem romantic.
Li Jiangying and the other three sat on a bamboo raft. The raft moved forward, propelled by attached talismans. Jiang Sujin had secretly chopped bamboo from the City Lord Manor and made it herself, fearing she wouldn’t be able to snatch a boat during the escape.
Jiang Sujin took out a handkerchief, wet it with water, and handed it to Zhu Yue, who was sitting on the raft, hugging her knees in self-imposed isolation. “City Lord, please wipe your face.”
Zhu Yue slowly raised her head to glance at her, then took the handkerchief without a word and wiped the wounds on her face. As a former expert of the Transformation Realm, such superficial wounds were nothing. Even left unattended, they’d heal overnight.
After wiping, Zhu Yue casually tossed the handkerchief away and warned, “Do not call me City Lord.”
Jiang Sujin: “Uh… why?”
Li Jiangying was sitting cross-legged on the raft, the snake demon resting her head on her lap, the end of her tail dangling in the water, idly slapping up splashes. While applying the ointment Jiang Sujin had provided to the little madwoman’s injuries, Li Jiangying laughed.
“Because Lord Chasing Moon is going to experience the life of an ascetic. So don’t bother her with these empty titles. Of course, it’s best not to use the name ‘Zhu Yue’ either. The Moon-Chasing Devil Venerable is far too famous. Others will recognize it instantly.”
“Then what should we call her?” Jiang Sujin asked.
Zhu Yue was silent for a moment. “Li Xiangshui. ‘Xiang’ from Xiaoxiang, ‘Shui’ as in water.”
“Senior Li,” Jiang Sujin called out, then added, “These four Essence Stones are far too precious. You should keep them yourself.” She was referring to the remaining four Essence Stones that Li Jiangying had scrupulously scavenged from the collapsed Demon-Suppressing Grand Array.
None of Li Jiangying’s trio could store them, so they’d had to entrust them to Jiang Sujin.
Zhu Yue—no, now Li Xiangshui—twitched the corner of her mouth in a cold laugh and said nothing.
Li Jiangying drawled lazily, “I already said, Xiangshui is going to cultivate the techniques of my sect and can’t casually use magic. Sujin, just hold onto them.”
Jiang Sujin had no choice but to agree.
Though she didn’t understand why Sister Ying Suanli had reconciled with the Moon-Chasing Devil Venerable yet still needed to flee, Jiang Sujin wisely refrained from asking further. She obediently steered them toward the shore as instructed.
They planned to leave Chasing Moon City and continue toward Flying Swallow Capital. No matter what, the most important thing was to treat Li Yueying’s internal injuries first.
Li Xiangshui glanced at Li Yueying, who was sprawled on Li Jiangying’s lap, eyes narrowed in pure bliss. She hooked up the corner of her mouth. Whether it was self-mockery or mocking someone else, she sneered, “Speaking of healing panaceas, this Venerable One does possess some. Such a pity they can’t be taken out now. Heh!”
Li Jiangying looked at her speechlessly. “Xiangshui, why bother? If you had just been kind enough to give the medicine to A Yue earlier, maybe none of this would have happened today.”
Li Xiangshui: “…”
The bamboo raft drifted to the center of the lake. Surrounded by nothing but water on all sides, Li Jiangying yawned and lay down. Honestly, she was dead tired. Gradually, she closed her eyes, her body relaxing, preparing to sleep between the water and sky.
But she had underestimated the degree of her own misfortune.
A fierce wave surged from the direction of Mid-Lake Island, rushing straight toward their tiny raft. A lively female voice approached swiftly from afar. “Your Highness, I’ve come to save you!”
It was a young girl who looked about sixteen or seventeen, with her hair tied up in two buns, wearing short trousers, and riding barefoot atop a large Bird of Prey.
The bird of prey skimmed the water’s surface, charging to the side of the bamboo raft in an instant. The turbulent waves made the unstable raft threaten to capsize. At that moment, Li Yueying fiercely slapped her tail—SMACK!—against the raft, steadying it.
She straightened up and looked impatiently at the uninvited guest who had disturbed her intimate sleep with Yingying. “Get lost!”
The newcomer said with a grin, “I am Chi Yuzhi, a great general under the Moon-Chasing Devil Venerable! Who are you to dare act so insolently before my Lord?!”
Li Xiangshui looked at her expressionlessly. “Chi Yuzhi, I have urgent, private matters to attend to and must leave for a few days. Go back. Do not ask further.”
“Really?” Chi Yuzhi tilted her head, skepticism written all over her face. “Your Highness, the City Lord Manor is in chaos, and a Demonic Beast has escaped. Do you not intend to investigate these matters?”
“With you here, handle them.” Li Xiangshui waved her sleeve impatiently. “Enough. No more nonsense. Go back!”
She wanted to drive her away, but this chasing Devil Cultivator was not so easily dismissed.
Chi Yuzhi, riding her bird of prey, swooped around the bamboo raft. A dark light flashed in Li Yueying’s eyes. She suddenly burst upward, whipping her tail like a bolt of lightning, slamming the massive bird of prey into the water.
Chi Yuzhi was badly startled and hastily leaped away, her bare feet alighting on the water’s surface. “What a fierce snake! Your Highness, are you truly not going back?”
“I told you to leave, so leave.” Li Xiangshui stood up, her hands behind her back quietly clenching. “Do not disturb this Venerable One further!”
“Since that’s the case… Sigh.” Chi Yuzhi sighed exaggeratedly, wearing a strange, cryptic smile as she tilted her head to look at them. “Then allow this subordinate to send you on your way.”
The moment her words fell, she raised her dainty little foot and stomped heavily on the water’s surface. Instantly, a massive wave surged, carrying the bamboo raft forward. This time, it was not something Li Yueying could solve with a single flick of her tail.
The snake demon spun around abruptly, scooping Li Jiangying into her arms and diving into the water, narrowly avoiding the water blades concealed behind the wave. The water blades shattered the bamboo raft. Jiang Sujin and Li Xiangshui were helplessly swept into the lake.
Chi Yuzhi retreated with wild laughter, leaving the four unlucky souls floundering in the water.
Li Yueying surfaced, holding Li Jiangying. Their heads broke the water. Li Jiangying sneezed violently. “Damn! Are the subordinates in your Chasing Moon City all this spicy?!”
Li Xiangshui wiped water from her face, bobbing up and down. “She… cough, cough! She must have sensed something off about my cultivation! She was testing us! We have to go, fast! If she brings others back, we’re doomed!”
Left with no choice, the four of them could only grunt and start swimming. Li Yueying, holding Li Jiangying, flicked her tail once and shot forward incredibly fast, leaving the other two far behind in no time.
Li Jiangying hurriedly called for her to stop. She was not the type to abandon her teammates at a critical moment. Li Yueying pouted unhappily. “Yingying is all soaked.”
Li Jiangying mercilessly pinched her ear. “So are you!”
The snake demon’s face instantly flushed red. She coyly began pressing herself into Li Jiangying’s arms. Li Jiangying was full of question marks. “What are you doing…” She was almost pushed over and drowned.
Li Yueying whispered, “Only for Yingying to see.”
Li Jiangying: “Even if you stripped naked, no one would see much.”
Jiang Sujin and Li Xiangshui swam over. Li Xiangshui snapped irritably, “Were you thinking of ditching this dead weight already? Dream on!”
Jiang Sujin panted heavily. “Finally… caught up. I have Water-Avoiding Talismans. Does anyone want one?”
“Why didn’t you bring them out sooner?!” Li Xiangshui said fiercely.
Jiang Sujin had assumed she was simply switching to cultivate Sister Ying Suanli’s technique, hence the ascetic practice of not using magic. She looked at her with both admiration and embarrassment. “I thought Senior Li was determined to cultivate in hardship and wouldn’t want to rely on external items.”
Li Jiangying coughed twice. “Cultivating in hardship also depends on the situation. Not knowing when to adapt isn’t hardship—it’s called stubbornness. Alright, alright, let’s get to shore first.”
With great difficulty, they finally swam to the shore. Li Jiangying asked Jiang Sujin for a veiled bamboo hat to put on Li Yueying. The previous one had been lost on the Moon-Chasing Devil Venerable’s luxurious pleasure boat.
Li Xiangshui also wanted one. Jiang Sujin spread her hands innocently. “I only have one left. But I do have a black robe I’ve worn before. If Senior doesn’t mind, I can lend it to you.”
