Chapter 1594 - 969: No Place in Life Without Encounters (Part 2)

"You damned blind man! You’re only swaggering because your cultivation’s higher than mine. Just wait till I suck that precious young master of yours completely dry, raise my cultivation, and the first thing I’ll do is gouge out those pair of dead fish eyes of yours and crush them to mush."

Qingzhi lazily set the blade upright on the ground, hands folded on the hilt, head tilted as he looked at her and gave a cold smile: "If you really have that ability, I’ll be all eyes. But first, you’d better have the ability to win him from the Demon Lord."

"The Demon Lord?"

Qingzhi sneered: "The Young Master once entered the Demon World alone, battled Shu Ci at Mohe, slew the Netherworld Dragon. Even the Demon World’s supreme Monarch favored him greatly, and despite the opposition of many a Demon Minister, insisted on forcibly taking him as Royal Consort. Mm... later, the Tianxi Sword Sect’s Fourth Sword, Sword Master Yun Rong, snatched the groom in public, enraging the Demon Lord, who ordered a realm-wide manhunt. In his fury, the entire Beiyuan Forest was destroyed, and the Boundary Bridge collapsed."

Watching the fox demon Ting Yan’s face turn paler and paler, Qingzhi stroked his chin, smiling-not-smiling: "I really couldn’t tell—such a little fox demon, yet with such great ambitions. You actually dare to compete with the Demon World’s supreme lord and Tianxi’s Fourth Sword over a man. Very good, very good. Only death and pressure can make a person grow strong the fastest. Your so-called ’bold declaration’ of provocation—I’ll have the spies in the Demon Alliance pass it into the Demon World as soon as possible. With the Demon Lord’s ’encouragement,’ you’ll soon be much stronger than me and can dig out my eyes to use as your stepping-stones."

Ting Yan was of the Demon Clan to begin with, so she naturally understood how fearsome the Demon Lord’s reputation was. The thought that the boss of the Demon Alliance had almost become the Demon Lord’s Royal Consort in the past, while she was here shamelessly plotting after him, made her legs go weak and her head buzz.

Seeing that Qingzhi’s expression didn’t look like he was joking at all, Ting Yan’s limp fox tail obediently drooped against her back, and she sidled up with a face full of fawning smiles.

"Good sir~ I was brought into the Demon Alliance by your own hand, after all. You can’t just stand by and shove me into the fire pit. This kind of ridiculous talk is only for us to joke about in private. If the Demon Lord ever found out, flaying off this layer of fox skin to roast on a skewer would be the least of it."

Qingzhi’s face was utterly indifferent: "I’ve no time to jest with you here. I’ll just ask once—are you going or not?"

Ting Yan gave him a long, deep look, then suddenly chuckled softly: "When I, Ting Yan, do things, it’s either not at all, or to the very best. If I hadn’t taken this task, that would be one thing. But now that I have, I can’t very well crush my own spirit and slink back halfway with my tail between my legs.

Qingzhi, you’ve not known me just a day or two. I’m a demon who stops at nothing. I know the stakes. Those six Demon Clan members are surely all high-level figures within the Demon Alliance; it was no easy thing to cultivate them to this point. If you’re willing to trust me just this once, I absolutely have the ability to dig out news of them from this sea of faces.

Even if I can’t rescue them, I can still find out who’s behind this mischief. The Golden Immortal auction is the critical moment; I don’t think you’d want, at a time like this, to still be completely in the dark about who’s targeting our Demon Alliance from the shadows, would you?"

Ting Yan unhurriedly patted the ash from her dress, smiled faintly, and said: "After all, you, Qingzhi, have always upheld the principle of ’Demon Alliance interests above all,’ haven’t you?"

Qingzhi gave her a bland glance. "You think I care about your personal life and death."

"I know—you’re worried my special status will bring calamity upon the Demon Alliance. Don’t worry, I’ll give you a promise right here: if I truly fail the mission, I’ll kill myself on the spot. I’ll never expose even the slightest bit of information about you or the Demon Alliance.

Just as you said, I’m terrified of pain. I definitely couldn’t hold out under heavy torture."

"Of course..." Ting Yan finished shaking out her skirts, lifted her eyes with a smile, and said: "I have Golden Vine body protection, a gift from Tang Di—the avatar of a Great Demon. It’s enough to block a tribulation for me. What more is there for you to worry about?"

Qingzhi stared into her eyes for a long time, and once he was sure she wasn’t lying, he nodded. "Since you’re so determined, have it your way. I’m your guide, after all. I won’t be leaving this Boundless Wind and Moon Tower tonight. I’ll disguise myself as a drinker and blend into the crowd. Judge the situation yourself."

The fox demon Ting Yan looked at Qingzhi with a wickedly bright smile: "So, you’re going to use this new skin of yours and pose as a drunk to go whore after girls? This little nose and little eyes—really quite handsome. Much more pleasing than that face you were wearing a few days ago. Where did you get such a pretty ’skin’? It even covers the scars on your face so completely there’s not a trace left. It’s making even this old lady’s heart itch.

Dressed like this to go to a brothel, I really don’t know whether you’re whoring after the girls, or the girls are whoring after you. They ought to be paying you instead."

Ting Yan was genuinely praising him from the bottom of her heart. She cultivated primarily in The Art of Energy Gathering, and naturally had a physiological fondness for handsome men and boys.

Though someone like Qingzhi’s personality did absolutely nothing for her, she had to admit his looks were exactly her type.

You can tear anything to shreds—but never a good bootlicking.

She’d thought that with this, she might at least win a smile from that dead face of Qingzhi’s.

Who would have thought that, for some reason, her words touched off some intolerable memory. Qingzhi’s face instantly went cold; his previously scattered gaze sharpened into frost. That frigid, gloomy menace was enough to make one’s hair stand on end.

"Is that so? Men who look too pretty don’t need to pay for girls—they pay with their lives. What? You want to give it a try?"

Ting Yan had known him this long and had never seen such a vicious, sinister expression on his face. She was thoroughly frightened.

She said aggrievedly: "What, is it wrong to praise you for being good-looking now? If you don’t like that face, just change it. Why take it out on me?"

Qingzhi said icily, "This is my true face. What other face am I supposed to change into?"

Ting Yan was stunned, genuinely surprised.

Heaven really was blind—to bestow such a beautiful skin on someone with such a vile, hateful temperament.

What a senseless waste!

Qingzhi’s expression was cold and listless; he couldn’t be bothered with the fox demon Ting Yan’s heartbroken look.

With a cold face, he kicked the window open, turned half his cold profile toward Ting Yan and said, "Whether I’m into men or not is really not worth probing into. What matters more is that both I and the Young Master are better-looking than you, you stinking fox. That’s a fact."

Even as he left, he didn’t forget to jab at her.

The handkerchief Ting Yan had been using to wipe incense ash slipped from her fingers to the floor. She muttered, "Hell with it, he actually didn’t deny being into men... Don’t tell me he really has some improper thoughts about the Young Master?!"

Ting Yan shuddered violently, goosebumps rising all over, and hurriedly cast that terrifying notion out of her mind.

Boundless Wind and Moon Tower—lanterns first lit, snow-wind gently stirring.

In the main hall, a sudden surge of celestial music and bamboo flutes rose like a fluttering breeze. Dozens of red silk ribbons slowly cascaded from the high hall. Twined around each strip of crimson silk was a beautiful woman with a willowy figure. Their faces were ethereal and lovely, swaying as though about to fall as they danced upon those slender, supple silks like celestial maidens flying in from beyond the sky.

The patrons who had come to drink were all entranced, utterly spellbound.

Baili An had changed into common clothes and moved through the crowd in the hall.

Qingxin did not lead the way for him this time. She was a woman after all, with shallow cultivation and little mastery of the Disguise Technique. It would be all too easy for someone to see through her, so it was unsuitable for her to continue mingling in a place of wine and song like this.

"Hey, hey, hey? I say, young master, this Boundless Wind and Moon Tower isn’t a charity house. If you want to drink yourself stupid, do it somewhere else. Once you’ve spent all your silver, we don’t let guests run a tab!"

"Crash!!!" A huge commotion of breaking wine jars and kicked tables erupted, followed by an angry, drunken roar.

"Scram! Don’t you dare disturb this Marquis’s drinking! You think I, this Marquis, can’t afford a few jars of this horse piss?!"

Baili An found the voice very familiar. He pushed through the crowd of gawkers, and when he looked over, he couldn’t help being a little speechless.

Sure enough, it was an acquaintance.

Ze Country’s Lin Family Young Marquis, Lin Zheng.

Truly, you meet old acquaintances wherever you go in life.