Chapter 16: Cat Demon

“Miss Lu, there’s something you wouldn’t know. These children on the cart… they’re the cargo.” Seeing that the truth could no longer be hidden, Zhang Feng gritted his teeth and confessed. “Someone offered a high price for our caravan to transport them to Stone City for delivery. I was blinded by greed for a moment and agreed!”

Human society was rigidly hierarchical, and under the laws of the current Great Tang Dynasty, the slave trade was entirely legal.

Lu Shiyuan had heard of such things before, but she had always despised them. She never imagined she would stumble upon one today.

“Shiyuan, take a closer look.” Shang Si, who had remained silent until now, finally stepped forward slowly and came to stand beside Lu Shiyuan. Her voice was faintly cool as her gaze settled on the group of half-grown children atop the cart. “They’re not human.”

“Not human?” Lu Shiyuan’s eyes narrowed. Following Shang Si’s words, she examined them more closely and indeed spotted the clues.

Though these children atop the cart appeared human in form, their movements and gazes were utterly unnatural—not at all like those of ordinary people. Not to mention the eerie roars and strange cries that occasionally emanated from their throats.

It might be fine during the day, but if anyone heard those chilling sounds at night, it would give them nightmares.

“That’s right. This brood is probably just newly born young ones.” Shang Si provided the answer. She soon turned to face the merchant before her. “Boss Zhang, for your caravan to take on this kind of business, you must have anticipated the risk of trouble, right? Let me guess: along the way, you hired cultivators from the Mortal Realm as escorts. But either you underestimated these creatures’ abilities, or something else happened en route, causing the cultivator originally tasked with escorting your team to Stone City to vanish. In desperation, you turned to us on the official road.”

As Shang Si finished speaking, Zhang Feng’s face turned ghastly pale. Lu Shiyuan knew then that the truth was likely just as Shang Si had surmised.

Those with power and wealth were never content with mortal bodies, fleeting lifespans, and limited potential. Though they held reverence for the cultivators and demons who stood above them, given the chance, they would mercilessly crush them underfoot.

Over the past decade, a trend of keeping demon pets had swept through noble circles, giving rise to this sordid trade. Merchants hunted down newly born demons with weak demonic power and little threat, selling them for hefty profits.

But such business carried enormous risks. A single misstep could invite vengeance from greater demons—and Zhang Feng was a prime example.

Clearly, his caravan had been stalked for some time. They had held off attacking only because of the Mortal Realm cultivators the caravan had previously hired. If not for their lucky encounter with Lu Shiyuan and Shang Si, that earlier assault would have claimed every last life.

The mere thought of what had just happened filled Zhang Feng with dread.

He bowed to the two women once more, pleading, “Since you two are cultivators, you must know how vicious these demons are. I beg you, out of compassion for the hundred lives in my caravan—their wives and children are waiting for them at home!”

“You have wives and children, but don’t these demons?” Lu Shiyuan burst out laughing at his words. “You capture these newborn demon younglings to sell as cargo, and now you’re afraid their parents or kin will come seeking revenge?”

Zhang Feng fell silent.

Seeing his lack of response, Lu Shiyuan assumed he felt remorse and softened her tone. “Release these young demons, and I’ll guarantee your safety. They won’t trouble you anymore.”

“No, we can’t!” Zhang Feng’s head snapped up, meeting Shang Si’s amused, mocking gaze.

He shuddered inwardly and awkwardly looked away, explaining to Lu Shiyuan, “We only received half the payment as a deposit when this shipment set out. If we arrive in Stone City empty-handed without delivering the goods, it’ll be more than just losing money—our lives might be forfeit too.”

Even now, he was still thinking about the money.

Lu Shiyuan lowered her gaze, inwardly sighing at the flaws of human nature. In a cold voice, she said, “In that case, there’s nothing more we can do. We can only wish you a safe journey to Stone City, Boss Zhang.”

“A Si, let’s go.” With that, she took Shang Si’s hand. The two veered off the main official road onto a side path, ignoring Zhang Feng’s desperate cries from behind.

It was the first time Shang Si had seen this side of Lu Shiyuan. She had assumed that someone from an immortal sect, a guardian of the righteous path, would harbor some bias toward mortals attacked by demons. But Lu Shiyuan did not.

“A Si, if you keep looking at me like that, I’ll think you have feelings for me.” They hadn’t gone far when Lu Shiyuan suddenly stopped and turned back, her eyes and brows curved in a smile.

Their hands were still clasped together, and her fingers habitually twirled around Shang Si’s knuckles.

“Slick talker.” Shang Si shot her a sidelong glance, then reached up to lift the veil from her face, speaking in a lazy drawl. “If you really wanted to leave, you should’ve just flown off into the sky. Why talk about going and then circle around nearby instead?”

In the end, she simply couldn’t abandon those hundred-odd lives.

Some people deserved death, but Lu Shiyuan clearly wasn’t the sort with a heart of stone who could just stand by and let them die.

The two had parted ways with Zhang Feng just past noon. Stone City wasn’t far, but it would still take half a day’s journey.

After being ravaged by the demons’ spells, the caravan was sorely weakened, its members gripped by panic. Reorganizing the group and resuming the march took considerable time, so those who should have reached Stone City before sunset according to plan ended up camping outside the walls for the night, waiting for dawn to enter the gates.

But that night, no one dared sleep.

Almost everyone knew tonight was the perfect chance for the demons to strike.

The group waited in dread until a sudden gust of demonic wind swept through, making the campfires flicker and sputter. The oilcloth draped over the small prisoner cages was whipped away once more, and dozens of dark shadows flashed past in the night. Soon, someone made out the demons’ forms in the faint moonlight.

“Ah——！！”

Screams broke out in an instant, chaos erupting. The vengeful demons, beyond rescuing their own, bared their razor-sharp claws, ready for a massacre.

But just then, a sword edged with cold gleam sliced through the air, saving a life from a deadly claw at the last second.

Having clashed with it just that afternoon, she recognized the Azure Frost Sword at once. She narrowed her eyes and barked coldly into the empty night sky, “Female cultivator, I advise you not to meddle in this. Fine immortal artifact you have there, but can you fend off dozens of my clansmen all by yourself?”

“Want to find out?” Lu Shiyuan and Shang Si stepped out from the woods lining the official road, their faces icy, voices as chill as frost.

She reached out from afar, and the distant Azure Frost Sword, still shimmering with spiritual light, streaked back into her hand like a ray of flowing light.

In that instant, the blade hummed, its killing intent surging forth!

Meanwhile, Zhang Feng, spotting Lu Shiyuan and her companion again, had no room for complaints. He scrambled over on all fours, clutching at them like a drowning man grasping a lifeline. “Immortals! Save us, immortals! These demons are going to kill everyone!”

An unexpected mishap disrupted the rescue midway, and soon the other adults clustered around as well, huddling together.

“Immortals, they…” Zhang Feng’s lips quivered, his words tumbling out incoherently.

Shang Si merely flicked her wrist in irritation and fixed him with a cold glare. “Shut your mouth.”

Zhang Feng immediately clapped a hand over his lips. Only then did Shang Si lift her gaze to the dozens of demons across from them, her phoenix eyes narrowing slightly. “You’ve saved your people. You can go now. Stirring up more trouble won’t do anyone any good.”

“What are you to order us around? We leave just because you say so? As far as I’m concerned, none of these people are surviving tonight!” No sooner had Shang Si spoken than a hotheaded demon lunged forward from the group, fingers hooked into claws and aimed straight at Zhang Feng’s face—clearly intent on taking his life.

The man cowered at Lu Shiyuan’s feet, his legs turned to jelly, too terrified to even cry out. Fortunately, Lu Shiyuan had no intention of standing idly by. She met the attack head-on. “Insolent wretch, so brazen as to harm someone right in front of me!”

It was merely a clash of cultivation bases and spiritual power. After the exchange, Lu Shiyuan shifted from defense to offense, slamming a palm into the demon’s shoulder and sending it staggering back several meters.

Shang Si’s slender brows were knitted so tightly they seemed ready to drip water. “Shiyuan?” Her voice held a cool edge, laced with barely concealed tension.

After all, Lu Shiyuan’s cultivation hadn’t fully recovered yet.

“Don’t worry, A Si. This lot’s cultivation isn’t that high.” Hearing Shang Si’s concern whispered at her ear, Lu Shiyuan eased her expression and offered reassurance.

The left hand of the demon she had just fought, however, was quietly tucked behind its back.

But Shang Si remained displeased all the same.

When she was unhappy, it was hard for her to rein in her aura. In no time, the very air around them grew frigid—not just to the demons itching for a fight, but even the ordinary folk with their dull senses could feel the ominous pressure.

Realizing these two weren’t to be trifled with, the demons didn’t stick around. They abandoned their plans, shielded the children they’d rescued from their kin, and swiftly withdrew.

Night blanketed the land like a rising tide. The outskirts beyond the city walls, moments ago thick with yin qi and demonic miasma, soon flickered back to life with clusters of campfires.

The commotion drew nearby cultivators flying in one after another to investigate the cause.

The caravan folk regarded Lu Shiyuan and Shang Si as their saviors. Though the pair had made it clear beforehand they disliked disturbances, people still came bearing roasted food and wine as humble tokens of gratitude.

With the thin veil removed from her face, Shang Si’s exquisitely arched brows and enchanting eyes became even more striking. In the flickering firelight, her peerless beauty seemed to shimmer with an otherworldly allure, yet for some inexplicable reason, she radiated a sassy chill from head to toe.

Before Lu Shiyuan could puzzle out the source of Shang Si’s displeasure, a pair of soft, slender hands reached toward her. “Your hand—stop hiding it. Let me take a look.”

Lu Shiyuan froze, still clueless as to where she’d slipped up.

But Shang Si had already seized her wrist, her next words tumbling out in quick succession, laced with a clear edge of petulant anger. “I can see that little cat didn’t hold back one bit. That injury of yours isn’t minor at all.”