Chapter 108: Silver Bell Demon Hunter Goes Online

The room was quiet.

Shen Yi set down his chopsticks and casually raised his cup in reply.

He didn't bother with any "don't mention it" nonsense; with a hot-tempered brute like this, some things had to be dragged out of him before he'd feel at ease.

"Huu—"

Zhang the Butcher sat back down at the table, a smile spreading across his face.

This time, the Vajra Sect had ground his dignity into the dust.

Honestly, given the man's current strength, even if Zhang threw his life on the line, what help could he possibly be?

But Brother Shen's attitude was the same as ever, no different from when they were in Bai Yunxian.

"I'm planning to take this child and leave Outside Qingzhou for a while, spend some time in a small county town. Once we arrive, I'll have someone send you a letter."

Shen Yi was in the full flush of his rise, and had backed Zhang the Butcher in front of so many people. As long as Zhang stayed in the city, there was no telling how many would be eager to curry favor with him just to get close to my lord Shen.

But the hot-tempered man saw deeper: this wealth and status weren't his to enjoy, and where there were those who wanted to curry favor, there were also those who wanted to harm Shen Yi. A man of his meager strength could easily become the crack others used to attack Shen Yi.

"Stay safe."

Shen Yi nodded, then glanced sideways at Fang Heng beside him. "Why do you keep staring at him like he's your old man?"

"…"

Fang Heng rolled his eyes and sat down as well. If only his own parents had seen things so clearly back then, they wouldn't have clung to that little shop until they were slaughtered by demons and monsters, leaving only his grandmother and himself to depend on each other.

Seeing the relief on Zhang the Butcher and the boy's faces at having narrowly escaped death, he felt a bit sentimental for a moment, that was all.

The Commander was a good master, but it was hard to say he was a dutiful elder.

"My grandmother says I've changed a lot lately. She wants to thank you in person."

Fang Heng sighed. The big change was that ever since he'd run into this fellow, his arm had never healed properly.

Unable to cross swords with anyone, his temper had naturally cooled a great deal.

"Tomorrow, then."

Shen Yi suddenly realized that since he'd come to know more people, there were actually people in this world who had begun to care about him.

It felt… not bad at all.

The three of them only sipped a few mouthfuls each before heading back to their rooms to rest. In a world overrun by demons and monsters, getting dead drunk was a luxury.

……

The next day.

Zhang the Butcher rose and left early in the morning. Before he went, he left no more words—only bowed deeply toward Shen Yi's door with the child in tow.

In the late morning, Fang Heng walked in from outside carrying two bags of oranges.

Shen Yi tucked the full set of attendant-captain uniform into the Silver Bell, changed into a dark robe he'd brought from Bai Yunxian, and pushed the door open to step out.

"You're planning to head off again?" Fang Heng looked at his outfit, seeming to catch on.

Aunt Aqian really had given my lord Shen the bell.

This kind of hurried, never-resting manner—Fang Heng had only seen it in one other person.

"Can't just stay cooped up in the city forever. Going out for a bit of a look around."

Shen Yi stepped out toward the courtyard gate.

Carrying half a manual of the Core-Condensing Body-Tempering Art and never putting it to use was really making him itch.

The two of them soon arrived at the Commander's residence.

It was his second time setting foot in the place, yet Shen Yi's state of mind was entirely different from last time.

Now, standing here, anyone who saw him would only think he had important business—not that he was riding on someone else's coattails.

"Little Yang, just wait a moment. Let me introduce you to a young fellow."

"Oh—Auntie… I just came to deliver the salary to Lord Fang. I'm not looking for that right now."

"Just take a look at him first."

"I really have things to do…"

A few voices drifted from inside the courtyard; the Miss sounded a touch helpless.

As the two of them stepped into the courtyard, she turned her head to look. Her gaze swept past Fang Heng and landed on that tall, slender figure in the dark robe.

"Uh."

Little Yang instinctively sat down on the stool. "Suddenly I'm free again."

Fang Heng shot her a glance and said flatly, "Go on and get busy."

"Actually I'm not that busy… hey… don't drag me… my lord Shen! It's me! I picked out a cultivation art for you last time!"

Fang Heng walked over, hauled the Miss to her feet, and only let go once she'd stepped out of the courtyard casting glances back at every step, her eyes still fixed brazenly on Shen Yi's face.

"You little rascal—can't you be a bit more polite?"

The old lady gave him an exasperated smack, then beamed at Shen Yi. "You're here."

"Mm, came to see you."

Shen Yi nodded, not having expected that the little Miss the old lady had kept mentioning introducing was actually serious.

"Sit down quick, I'll go cook for you."

Old folk love to chatter, and they know nothing of cultivation, so all their questions were about mundane household matters.

Shen Yi didn't find it a bother. He sat in the courtyard and answered her questions earnestly.

Only scenes like this could give him a faint sense of the security he'd felt in his previous life.

Soon it was noon, and again plain porridge and small dishes were set on the table—this time with a special bowl of red-braised pork made just for him.

"Last time you helped me teach this silly boy a lesson. He's been much better behaved. Eat more, and next time hit him even harder."

Shen Yi picked up his chopsticks, and under the old lady's eager gaze, had just picked up a piece of meat.

The silver bell at his waist suddenly trembled.

He kept his composure, let the half-fat, half-lean piece of meat melt between his lips, savored it carefully, then lifted the corner of his mouth: "Your cooking is really not bad."

"Is that so? Then eat more." The old woman beamed so wide her mouth couldn't close.

"We'll see when there's a chance."

Shen Yi quickly finished the plain porridge in his bowl, rose with a hint of apology, cupped his hands in farewell.

Fang Heng sensed something and looked up: "Lord Shen, do take extra care."

The dangers a Zhen Mo Si Captain faces on a normal day don't amount to a tenth of what a demon-hunter endures.

"It's fine, you young ones are all busy—go on, be busy, and come back to sit a while when you have the time."

After Shen Yi left, the old woman tucked away her smile, sat back down at the table, and slapped Fang Heng again: "I don't know what nonsense you're playing at—such a fine young man, if only he had a wife waiting at home, would he still be risking his life like this?"

"But you can't just go looking for anyone at random, can you." Fang Heng pouted, and—rare for him—murmured a retort.

"That's true enough." The old woman thought for a moment, then suddenly laughed: "That senior sister of yours does seem quite a bit like him."

"You mean Jiang Shijie Lin?" Fang Heng was briefly stunned, then felt there was some sense to it.

"No, the prettier one." The old woman blinked and whispered: "They both look all lofty and cold on the outside, but their hearts are warm underneath—how about you help play matchmaker?"

Hearing this, Fang Heng suddenly shivered and waved his hands repeatedly: "Please calm down, Lord Shen only looks cold—actually he just doesn't like to talk. Jiang Shijie… is a completely different matter, alright? You must be seeing things."

Seeing his grandmother still unconvinced, he glanced left and right.

Lowering his voice, he said: "I heard Senior Brother You say that Jiang Shijie suffered a yao disaster as a child, crawled out of a pile of corpses all alone, and when she met Master, the only thing beside her was a golden-threaded macaque that had gone through the same ordeal. They kept watch for each other along the way, split a single wheat cake between them, and even after escaping death, her eyes still held optimism."

"Too bad she ran into Master."

At this point, Fang Heng sighed: "Master brought her and the golden-threaded macaque to a courtyard in the area to look after them."

"Isn't that quite nice?" The old woman looked over curiously.

"Nice?" Fang Heng kept his head down, listlessly picking at the pickled vegetables: "Master taught them both martial arts at the same time—the macaque trained with the saber, Jiang Shijie learned the sword… That macaque had also had its entire clan slaughtered by ape-demons and fled out of necessity, so you could say it shared a life-and-death bond with Jiang Shijie."

"After just a few months, the macaque practiced its saber art to the entry-level, so Master bestowed it a treasured saber and sent it out to gain experience."

"Not long after the monkey left, Master called Jiang Shijie over and said that the monkey was hiding rage in its heart, and that on this trip, the first thing it would do was go back for revenge, and the journey would take no more than a month."

"One month—break through the initial realm—and he would take Jiang Shijie there to save it."

The old woman was stunned: "Did it succeed?"

"Of course it failed." A helpless look rose in Fang Heng's eyes: "Jiang Shijie rested only two hours every day, but in the end she still fell just a little short."

"Of course, none of that matters."

Fang Heng waved his hand and let out a long breath: "What I want to say is, from that time on, Jiang Shijie never asked another word about the macaque, never even set foot in the place it had gone, completely let go of everything, wanting to become the sharpest sword in Outside Qingzhou—not your 'cold outside, warm inside'…"

"But really, not caring about anything at all."

(End of chapter)