Chapter 33: First Setback

Lin Baiwei finished wiping the table, snatched up the dirty outer robe Shen Yi had changed out of, and left for the back courtyard without a word.

Only when the room fell into silence.

Shen Yi took out the beast essence still stained with threads of blood, and looked at the panel again.

【Remaining Demon Lifespan: 226 years】

He closed his eyes, and a faint heat welled up in his heart.

Sure enough, trouble and opportunity always came hand in hand. If the body's previous owner hadn't done something stupid, how could he have so easily obtained martial arts related to the Jade Liquid Realm.

He just didn't know what aspect of martial arts it would be.

Best case, it would be internal cultivation; failing that, blade techniques would be fine too… but the demon lifespan was a bit lacking again.

Those demons who had been sneaking around with the body's previous owner rarely contacted him anymore now. Truly, when the man leaves, the tea cools—how very realistic.

As for leaving the city to slay demons.

Shen Yi had occasionally thought of it too, but looking at Lin Baiwei's miserable state, he felt it wasn't quite proper.

Don't be fooled by the county town having almost no decent experts and its weak defenses—behind it stood the Great Qian Dynasty. Unless the demons had grown tired of peaceful days, they wouldn't lightly escalate matters.

Secretly snatching a few people to eat and brazenly overrunning a county town were two entirely different concepts.

But once he stepped outside and carelessly ran into a fierce demon…

Shen Yi didn't think he'd have the luck to be tied up and locked under a bed, only to meet someone so generous who'd support him on a pitiful salary.

The far more likely outcome was being torn apart by fangs and claws, and at most, after the demon swallowed his flesh and blood, getting a thumbs-up and a compliment that today's takeout was really smooth and tender.

"…"

Recalling Liu Qi's death, Shen Yi turned onto his side, a flicker of lament passing through his eyes.

Just then, he suddenly felt a cold, writhing sensation on his arm.

In almost an instant, the lament in Shen Yi's eyes turned to a chilling killing intent. Twelve great orifices activated at once, and a sharp aura surged violently within his body!

He flung back the blanket in one motion, only to see two long snakes—one black, one white—as thick as a cup's rim, slowly twisting their bodies as they slithered out from the bed crack against the wall. One coiled toward his thigh, the other draped itself over his left arm.

They lazily flicked their forked tongues.

Shen Yi narrowed his eyes slightly and swiftly reached out to grip the saber mounted on the wall.

Compared to before, his senses now were incomparably sharp. Not to mention foul-smelling demons, even ordinary wild beasts, even insects the size of a fingertip, could not escape his eyes and ears.

Yet these two snakes had actually slithered onto his bed without him noticing at all!

The next moment, the snake bodies rapidly transformed.

Two fair, voluptuous figures were revealed, with only a few scales covering their vital parts. One rested her smiling face in the crook of Shen Yi's arm, while the other lazily embraced his waist, pressing her full, long legs onto his knee.

The two women raised their heads, their faces so strikingly beautiful they carried a hint of wickedness.

They slowly twirled the hair at their temples with their index fingers, their voices like silver bells, their breath like orchids, with a touch of coquettish charm: "Shen-lang, it's been so long—have you ever thought of us?"

Having taken human form, the aura on their bodies finally leaked out.

Shen Yi looked over quietly, sensing on them a flavor similar to his own.

That was the Initial Realm perfected—completely fused, a single whole, brought to consummation.

Without further hesitation, his right palm drew the saber. The silver-bright blade, under the dim candlelight, was suddenly wrapped in a thick, blood-red baleful aura.

This slash aimed straight at the white snake woman's neck—ferocious, vicious, holding nothing back.

"Hiss!"

The white snake woman's face changed drastically, and she rolled off the bed.

The black snake also released Shen Yi's waist, her palm reaching upward, the pads of her fingers instantly covered in dark scales gleaming with a metallic sheen.

She reached out to grip the blade, but just as she was about to speak, a look of shock suddenly rose on her strikingly beautiful face.

She saw that the black scales she trusted most actually let out a sizzling sound upon touching the blade, and in an instant were corroded away.

Dark red blood seeped from between her fingers, quickly turning into thin streams that dyed the blade red.

The white snake woman sprawled on the floor, her ample chest heaving uncontrollably. She touched her neck with lingering fear, shock and fury welling in her eyes: "Are you insane!"

"I did indeed hear that Shen-lang's temperament has changed greatly."

The black snake woman gripped the blade tightly, while her other hand slowly opened, scattering countless gold particles onto the bed: "But I still can't figure it out—why won't you even do business anymore? We were merely following the Old Mother's orders, asking you to invite a craftsman from Caihua Workshop into the mountains to make a few pretty pieces of jewelry for her."

As she spoke, cold sweat seeped onto her forehead.

Where was this a change of temperament? This was clearly a complete rebirth.

That slash just now looked simple, but was in truth practiced and seasoned—returning to simplicity. Even someone of outstanding talent would need several decades of bitter cultivation to achieve such a flavor.

The momentum was even more formidable, not the least bit weaker than her own several hundred years of cultivation.

Even if the two sisters attacked together, they might not necessarily take him down.

"Since Shen-lang no longer wishes to do these trivial matters, just say so plainly, and I'll leave this instant."

As the black snake woman spoke, she shot a glance to the side.

Seeing this, the demon woman on the ground transformed back into a long snake, then a thick fog enveloped her body, and she vanished on the spot.

"…"

Shen Yi watched the white snake disappear right before his eyes, frowning slightly.

The two beasts before him were absolutely the strongest demons he had ever seen.

It was no surprise they could take one of his strikes.

But this bizarre method of concealing their aura, and this ability to vanish, had truly opened his eyes considerably.

If only he could learn it too…

Thinking of this, Shen Yi looked again at the fair-skinned woman before him covered in black scales, and a bit more warmth entered his eyes.

Under that burning gaze, the black snake woman felt as if she were seeing the old lecher again. Only after a moment did she realize something was off—the other party didn't seem to care about her body.

She lowered her head to look at her lower abdomen, then grit her teeth.

This damned bastard actually set his sights on my beast essence!

"Shen surnamed fellow, I won't fight you today. Just you wait—I'll go back and report to the Old Mother! If you've got the guts, don't hide!"

The black snake reverted to its true form, hissing and flicking its forked tongue.

Just then, its peripheral vision swept across the room and it suddenly noticed an extra figure at the back courtyard gate.

The woman in white had a tall, slender build, leaning quietly against the wall, her profile cool and aloof.

She merely glanced casually toward this spot.

The black snake reared up, its scales bristling, unable to speak for a long while.

No wonder the Shen surnamed fellow suddenly gained such formidable martial skill, not taking the Old Mother seriously at all—he's climbed up to a higher branch and forgotten old acquaintances!

"Let's see how long you can stay smug!"

The black snake coiled its body resentfully, no longer mentioning the Green Qilin Old Mother. It summoned black fog to wrap around its body, taking the golden particles on the bed along with it, and vanished on the spot.

Only two people remained in the room.

Shen Yi looked toward the doorway, his expression slightly disappointed.

Sure enough, his weakness of knowing too little about demons and monsters had shown itself.

Dealing with those wild demons was fine, but facing demons with some backing, he couldn't even see through their methods.

"……"

Lin Baiwei lowered her hands and quietly looked at the young man, taking in his expression. Beyond her shock, she couldn't help but laugh at his absurdity despite being annoyed.

She had originally thought Shen Yi was a constable hiding his depth, just needing someone to enlighten him before he could transcend his mortal shell, and had wanted to take the opportunity to have some leverage over him.

After two days of contact, she had also guessed that she had misjudged—at the very least, he had entered the initial realm.

She simply hadn't expected that Shen Yi had already grown to the point of being able to intimidate two peak initial-realm demons on his own… and yet he was still dissatisfied?!

"They are the Green Qilin Old Mother's most valued handmaidens. Even if a Zhen Mo Si Captain took action, to be safe, more than ten would have to be deployed, and a demon-subduing formation would need to be set up in advance, before there'd be any chance of killing them."

"Or are you saying what you regret is not getting to feel their bodies a bit more just now?"

(End of this chapter)