“Bang!”
Nong Li slammed the table again, grabbing the edge with both hands and lifting it forcefully, sending the pastries and tea flying straight onto Benji.
But Benji, as the Demon King, merely raised a barrier of spiritual energy, splitting the flying table in two without a scratch.
Nong Li was clearly still in a state of shock. Her hand formed into a claw, spiritual power surging in her palm as she stabbed lightning-fast toward Benji.
This time, with murderous intent, making Benji frown slightly.
“Whoosh—”
Although she was a three-tailed fox demon, her strength was worlds apart from Benji’s. With a swift flash, Benji appeared behind Nong Li.
“Die!”
As if she wouldn’t stop without killing Benji, Nong Li’s three tails—long planned—swept out with cunning fox spirit energy.
A spatial-ripping tail slash was unleashed. Benji’s expression changed as he crouched awkwardly.
He suddenly realized that Nong Li’s power had skyrocketed since she gained that extra tail. That seemingly playful attack earlier was meant to lower his guard.
Truly cunning, worthy of being a fox.
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”
“Die, you liar!”
Benji didn’t want to truly fight Nong Li; it was completely unnecessary. Yet, even just dodging made him feel somewhat embarrassed.
But Nong Li being this strong was a good thing.
Because Benji had long regarded Nong Li as his natural ally.
“Are you too scared to admit it?”
“Admit what! I won’t admit your lies!”
“You’ve already sensed something deep down, haven’t you? You just don’t dare to think about it.”
Benji braced for Nong Li’s punch, his chest turning back into a chitinous insect shell, then suddenly summoned a thousand legs to bind Nong Li’s arm.
“Admit what?!”
“There’s so much you need to admit, isn’t there?”
Seizing Nong Li’s momentary distraction, Benji quietly cast a spell to temporarily sap her strength.
“Let me go!”
Nong Li half-kneeling on the ground, used her demon power to shake off the spell. This brief gap was enough for Benji to try convincing her.
“I’ll be honest with you—I’ve already told Youjianxian you’re here. I promised her I’d have her come soon to deal with you.”
“Bastard! Insect!”
Nong Li shouted loudly.
“But if I truly wanted to harm you, I wouldn’t bother telling you any of this. I only mentioned it because you lost your mind after hearing about Qingmu.”
“Tch!”
At this, Nong Li’s temper flared again.
“Calm down, calm down.”
Benji opened his hands and sat cross-legged on the ground. He continued, “Now I’m inviting you to join me in dealing with Youjianxian.”
“What?”
Nong Li frowned, incredulous. “You first tell Youjianxian I’m here, then you tell me she’s here, and now you want me to help you fight her?”
She curled her lips in a sneer. “Hmph, didn’t some insect say he was the most honorable when it came to keeping agreements?”
Hearing this, Benji felt Nong Li wasn’t nearly as carefree as she acted around Qingmu. When she first arrived in the city, she was clearly pretending, her fox ears overhearing everything.
“I meant, the demon clans are the ones who most respect contracts—demon clans among themselves, not humans.”
“I don’t have time for your word games!”
Nong Li broke free from the binding spell and stepped in front of Benji. One tail jabbed forward, stopping just before his face. “Explain yourself!”
“Alright, I can feel you trembling. You know you can’t beat me, so you’re trapped, aren’t you?”
Benji reached out and brushed Nong Li’s tail aside, which made her feel embarrassed.
She really had come to her senses—just moments ago, blood had rushed to her head, and she did everything rashly.
All she wanted was to tear off Benji’s foul head.
“Tch.”
Nong Li sat down cross-legged, clearly displeased, intending to see what else this demon senior had to say.
“I know if I just said ‘join me to fight Youjianxian’—because you hate her—you wouldn’t be convinced.
So I have another reason to tell you, but first, you need to calm your anger.”
Nong Li snorted but didn’t respond.
“Actually, you don’t really understand Qingmu yet, do you?”
Benji’s mention of Qingmu was of course not the current Qingmu. Nong Li’s body trembled, almost lunging forward instinctively.
“Qi Jue—you must have heard some of what we said about him, right?”
“Didn’t hear a thing.”
Nong Li was pretending, and Benji knew it, so he went on, “Qingmu’s Qi Jue was a gift from his master, and he and Youjianxian are fellow disciples.”
“Hmm…”
Nong Li didn’t know these details. She furrowed her brows, beginning to show some interest.
“They grew up together, childhood sweethearts. Qingmu has always been Youjianxian’s loyal protector.”
“Hmm…”
Nong Li’s frown deepened, clearly displeased. Then Benji’s words made her grind her teeth in fury.
“They developed feelings for each other… but, according to some rumors, those feelings didn’t come from the heart.”
“Not from the heart?”
Nong Li looked at Benji mysteriously, not understanding his meaning.
“But from the spiritual veins!”
Benji pointed from his neck downward, tracing the path of his own spiritual veins with his fingers. “Because Qingmu’s spiritual veins have been extracted by Lin Qiyou.”
“What did you say?!”
Nong Li instantly understood what spiritual vein extraction meant. Her pupils shrank sharply as she stared at Benji in disbelief.
“You’re right. The Lin family had Qingmu serve as a protector to Lin Qiyou for this very reason.
And the extraction of the spiritual veins is the root cause of those feelings.”
Spiritual veins are the root cause of feelings. Hearing that, Nong Li felt some relief, but it was crushed by the pain of Qingmu’s spiritual veins being extracted.
An uncontrollable fury rose in her chest. Lin Qiyou, already despised deeply, deserved an even worse fate.
She wanted to chop Lin Qiyou apart! Cut open! Tear to pieces! Only then could her hatred be lifted!
“And Qingmu cultivates Qi Jue. His spiritual veins contain Qi Jue.
These spiritual veins transferred into Youjianxian’s body… As for my request, I need to consume Youjianxian, because the spiritual veins that once belonged to Qingmu are crucial to my cultivation of Qi Jue.”
“What did you say?”
Nong Li’s murderous gaze landed on Benji’s face.
“You gain some, you lose some.”
Benji shook his head, spreading his hands. “I’ve made my demands, and I’ve tried to lean everything in your favor.
I saved you and Qingmu back then, helped you both, and now I want to help you eliminate Youjianxian—the one who’s been hunting you and who caused Qingmu’s death.
All I want is something Qingmu no longer needs, that’s all.
After this, our friendship will become even deeper.
So…”
Benji fell silent, watching Nong Li ponder.
After a long pause, Nong Li nodded. “Fine… let’s kill Lin Qiyou together.”