Benji City, Demon King’s Palace.
The Giraffe Demon transformed into a barely perceptible streak of light, slipping silently into the palace’s depths.
His target was the secret vault storing old archives; perhaps it still held correspondence from a century ago, between Benji Demon King and that Human Sword Cultivator, Lin Qiyou—records unknown even to the demon kind. Master Aoki needed this “evidence”, and he had to find it.
However, as he approached the secret vault, he sensed several powerful demon auras gathering in a side hall of deliberation. His heart tightened. He suppressed his presence, hiding in the shadows of a corridor pillar. Inside the side hall, Lord Nongli sat serenely in the seat of honor. Below her were the Rhinoceros Demon King with a displeased face, the Shadow Wolf King with shifty eyes, and several other influential Demon Elders. The atmosphere was tense—clearly, yet another argument about the handling of human captives and recent border skirmishes.
“…Great King, those not of our clan must be of a different heart! If we’re too lenient, we’ll chill the hearts of our warriors!” The Rhinoceros Demon King’s voice boomed like a bell, thick with dissatisfaction.
Lord Nongli massaged her brow, red eyes brimming with suppressed irritation. She was about to speak when the corner of her eye caught a small, thin figure flicker at the side door of the hall.
It was Aoki!
Why is he here?! Lord Nongli’s heart skipped. She saw Aoki dressed in the plain clothes of a junior demon, carrying a cleaning bucket, appearing as if he’d wandered in by mistake—just in time to meet the Rhinoceros Demon King’s gaze as he looked up.
“Hm?” The Rhinoceros Demon King’s eyes, round as copper bells, instantly locked onto Aoki. “This brat… a human’s scent?” His keen sense of smell immediately detected a faint, but unmistakably non-demon aura on Aoki—like a firefly in the night under demonic perception.
All eyes, both demon kings and elders, swung toward him in unison. A human child, at the heart of the Demon King’s deliberation palace—an extraordinary oddity.
Lord Nongli’s heart jumped, but her face stayed composed. Waving her hand, she spoke with a hint of barely noticeable urgency: “Just a clueless servant, wandered into the wrong place. Leave at once!”
She secretly sent a gentle surge of demonic power, softly nudging the “dazed” Aoki out of the side hall.
Aoki obediently bowed his head and departed quickly, as if he truly was just a little demon who had strayed in.
Yet, his appearance was like a stone cast into a tranquil lake.
“Great King, this person…” The Shadow Wolf King narrowed his long eyes, tone laced with amusement. “Seems to enjoy quite the protection from Your Majesty?”
Lord Nongli cursed Aoki inwardly for causing trouble, but outwardly could only be vague: “He’s just a descendant of an old friend, temporarily residing here. No need to pay him any mind.” She tried to steer the topic back. “As for the border issue…”
But the demon kings exchanged glances. Clearly, the sudden appearance and quick dismissal of that human child intrigued them more. Descendant of an old friend? What kind of human “old friend” could make the Demon King so anxious, even lose composure during council?
Deep night, Lord Nongli’s bedchamber.
“Master! You scared me to death today!” Lord Nongli dismissed her attendants and set up a barrier before dragging the quietly arrived Aoki into her inner room, both frightened and complaining in a low voice. “Why did you suddenly go to the council hall? If they’d noticed something off…”
Aoki had shed his disguise, face calm. “I was bored and wandering about, didn’t expect to run into you all.” He glanced around at the opulent furnishings of Lord Nongli’s chamber, tone casual. “Seems like you’re under quite some pressure here.”
“It’s those stubborn old fools!” Lord Nongli sat down beside Aoki, her tall frame instinctively wanting to lean closer, but recalling the day’s danger, she forcibly restrained herself—only her tail tip unwittingly twined around Aoki’s wrist. “All they care about is fighting and killing… Master, you came here—did Lin Qiyou get suspicious?”
“I bribed Qin Feng to cover for me, saying I need quiet to recuperate and can’t be disturbed.” Aoki replied blandly, as if recounting something trivial. “I slipped away behind her back. Besides, don’t you miss me?”
At his words, Lord Nongli’s eyes immediately brightened, as if she’d just received a precious secret, and a grin of private delight appeared on her face. “Master, you’re always so clever!” She drew closer, lowering her voice in a playful, almost coquettish tone. “So… Since I was so scared today and covered for you, will you call me that again? Just once!”
“Trying to act cute after taking advantage? You’re not done yet?”
Aoki looked at her expectant red eyes, silent for a moment, but finally gave in. In a voice so soft it was barely audible, he called out, “…Mother.”
Lord Nongli’s heart bloomed with joy. She was about to pounce and hug her master like always, when outside the chamber came the faintest, nearly undetectable ripple in space!
“Who?!” Lord Nongli reacted instantly, crimson pupils flashing with fierceness. A foxfire shot towards the source of the disturbance—a crystal window etched with concealment arrays used for ventilation.
With a soft hiss, the foxfire struck the window. The array flickered briefly, and a shadow outside flitted past and disappeared.
Lord Nongli’s face darkened immediately. Someone had been spying! Though she hadn’t caught them in the act, the intruder had clearly heard what shouldn’t have been heard!
Aoki’s brows knit slightly, but inwardly he was ice cold. The fish had taken the bait.
The chamber fell into brief silence. The sweet intimacy and secret delight of that earlier “Mother” was scattered by the sudden intrusion. Lord Nongli’s eyes flashed with a trace of viciousness, but when she turned to see the still-calm Aoki beside her, that hostility was quickly replaced by worry.
“Master…” She drew even closer, almost sheltering Aoki completely in her embrace, voice hushed with remorse. “It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have clung to you at a time like this. If those people use it against us…”
Seeing her so tense, blaming everything on herself, the chill in Aoki’s heart born of calculation seemed to melt a little. He raised his hand, flicking her smooth forehead with just the right force.
“Thunk.”
“Ow!” Lord Nongli clutched her forehead, aggrieved, even forgetting to wag her tail. “Master, why did you hit me…”
“Panicking at every setback, how will you ever amount to anything?” Aoki withdrew his hand, his tone tinged with reprimand, but gentler than usual. “So they overheard? It’s nothing but empty gossip. The more nervous you are, the more they’ll think they’ve found your weakness.”
His composure soothed Lord Nongli. She blinked at her master’s unflappable demeanor—even if Mount Tai collapsed before him, his face would remain unchanged—and the anxiety in her heart calmed. That’s right. Master is here.
She relaxed, her huge frame once again inching toward Aoki, this time resting her chin gently on his narrow shoulder, warm breath brushing his neck, scented with the fresh fragrance of a fox.
“You’re right, Master…” she muttered, tail happily swaying again, quietly curling around Aoki’s waist, pulling him closer into her arms. “I’m not afraid of them! I just… just don’t want them to disturb you, Master.”
Aoki, unused to her dependent posture, shifted a little, but she only held him tighter.
“Let go, it’s hot,” he said helplessly. “No way…” Lord Nongli acted spoiled, hugging him tighter and burying her face in his neck, inhaling deeply as if to absorb endless comfort. “Master, you’re always so cool. It’s comfortable holding you.”
Aoki: “…”
He realized that with this disciple—massive in body but sometimes childish in mind—there was really nothing he could do. Scold her, hit her, and she always found a way to stick close.
When he stopped resisting, Lord Nongli grew bolder, gently rubbing her cheek against his hair like a beast marking its territory, her muffled voice content and sighing. “Master… It’s so good to hold you like this. It feels just like back then in the Dan Chamber… When you were refining pills, and I would just eat…”
Her voice faded, tinged with a barely detectable choke. A century of forgetting and separation, and the preciousness of reunion, made her cling to him almost greedily.
Aoki listened in silence, feeling the warmth of her breath and the slight tremble against his neck. The hand he had planned to push her away with only fell lightly onto her back, gently patting her as if soothing a frightened animal.
That silent comfort melted Lord Nongli’s heart completely.
In the bedchamber, the massive demon king nestled against her small-bodied master, weeping silently like a beast cub who had found its home. Outside, the shadows cast by spies seemed to retreat for now, leaving only the real and fleeting tenderness within this warded space.
“Master…” Her voice was still nasal, but her eyes shone as she looked at him. “Lin Qiyou seems really sensitive about you saying she stabbed you. Last time I fought her, as soon as I mentioned it, her moves fell apart!”
Aoki: “I knew you’d start a fight.”
He looked at her expectant “praise me” expression, unsure whether to be angry or amused.
Yet, seeing Lord Nongli’s brightening smile, he could only shake his head and allow the faintest hint of a smile to tug at his lips.
The next day, Demon Realm.
Aoki was “sick”.
The news was spread “anxiously” by Qin Feng. He sought out the demon steward responsible for Shangu liaisons, claiming that Aoki’s old wounds had flared up, leaving him in critical condition, and that only special spirit herbs found deep in the demon realm could save him.
Qin Feng, with Lord Nongli’s special writ, began making a showy search through important demon pharmacies and marketplaces for the herbs. Everywhere he went, he claimed he was under orders from Lord Nongli to find medicine for an “extremely important person”, words earnest, face stricken.
He remembered Aoki’s instructions well—never mentioning Aoki’s exact relationship with Lord Nongli. Yet, in the eyes of those who cared, the situation took on a completely different hue.
A human child, deeply protected by Demon King Nongli, even residing near the palace.
Last night, during the demon king’s council, Nongli had shielded him with unusual protectiveness.
In the deep night, intimate cries of “Mother” echoed from Lord Nongli’s bedchamber.
And today, word spread that Lord Nongli’s people were urgently searching for life-saving herbs for the human child—supposedly all because she had allowed Aoki to come here in the first place.
All clues pointed to an absurd yet “perfectly logical” conclusion.
Rumors spread like wildfire through the demon realm’s upper echelons.
“Have you heard? The Great King… apparently has a half-demon child?”
“And it’s a human’s blood! She hid it well!”
“No wonder she’s so soft on humans—turns out it’s for her secret child!”
“Impure blood—how can such a one lead our demon clan?”
Such whispered gossip, like a poisonous fog, quietly corroded Lord Nongli’s authority and foundations as Demon King.
Meanwhile, in the Human Realm.
The Giraffe Demon, now disguised as a wandering Taoist, mingled in the taverns and teahouses of human towns. Under the pretense of drunken chatter, he’d “accidentally” let slip:
“Hey, did you know why the famed Sword Immortal You suddenly rose to prominence a century ago?”
“As far as I know, she had some shady deals with the previous Demon King of Benji…”
“Spirit vein transplant? Heh, you think she could manage that taboo art alone? Heard the Seven-Tailed Fox is dabbling in that—back then, Sword Immortal You couldn’t have done it without support from the demon side, who would believe otherwise?”
Such words, like stones cast into water, rippled through the human cultivator world. Once the seeds of doubt were sown, they took root and grew. Within the Sword Immortal’s own sect, old factional conflicts found new ammunition.
The wind rises from the tip of the green duckweed.
Aoki lay on a wooden cot in Shangu, listening to briefings on the wild rumors sweeping the demon realm, and the rising whispers of doubt in the human world.
He slowly closed his eyes.
Next, let’s see how reality will unfold…