Ye Yang was dumbfounded. He had told the truth.
Was he supposed to explain the purpose of the ore? But Sister Wu had said that had to remain a secret.
The Xuan Turtle Queen had no patience at all. The moment Ye Yang hesitated for even a second, she immediately said, “Not talking? Then just die. If I kill you, there’s nothing left to worry about.”
With that, she began to squeeze hard, intent on crushing the soft little creature.
Shen Ming’s scales flew straight out from inside Ye Yang’s body and hovered before his chest, glowing brightly. But the force of the claw on his body didn’t lessen at all. Ye Yang was terrified—Oh no, am I really going to die here?
Under the tremendous pressure, Ye Yang quickly lost control of his body. His form, already compressed to its limit, couldn’t hold up any longer.
The ore he had been clutching was flung away, but instead of slowly sinking to the riverbed as expected, or being swept away by the currents stirred up by the Xuan Turtle Queen, a large hand appeared out of nowhere and caught the ore firmly.
It was Shen Ming!
Shen Ming simply floated in the water. Without any visible movement, the pressure on Ye Yang suddenly vanished, and he found himself flying uncontrollably toward Shen Ming’s hand.
The Xuan Turtle Queen was knocked back several steps. Though unhurt, she was deeply wary and dared not act rashly again.
She was a naturally gifted demon creature. Even though she couldn’t sense Shen Ming’s presence, she could deduce that the person who had suddenly appeared must be extraordinarily powerful.
Or rather, it was precisely because she couldn’t feel any presence at all that he seemed even more terrifying.
“Who are you? Let me make this clear—no one is poaching the Lushu deer!” Despite her fear, she held firmly to her principles.
Ye Yang finally found his courage again. “I’m really not poaching! I just came for the ore, really, really! I’ve said it so many times!”
The little sea hare swelled back to the size of a dwarf rabbit, bouncing several times in Shen Ming’s palm, and brazenly started boasting: “If I wanted to poach, my friend here could do it with a wave of his hand. Why would I go through the trouble of coming all the way here and politely asking to pass through? He could just move the whole mountain with a casual gesture!”
Shen Ming: “…” Such a quick change of face. Weren’t you the one scared out of your wits just now, about to cry?
Of course, he wasn’t going to expose Ye Yang. He silently went along with it.
Shen Ming remained silent, which made the Xuan Turtle Queen even more apprehensive. “So what do you want?”
The Xuan Turtle Queen looked at Shen Ming. Shen Ming looked at Ye Yang. Ye Yang looked back and forth. “…Let us go?”
……
Once out of the Guai River, Ye Yang couldn’t help shaking the water droplets off himself vigorously. This Guai River was truly strange. While in it, he hadn’t noticed anything unusual, but as soon as he got ashore, the water clinging to his body felt incredibly heavy, so oppressive it was hard to breathe.
Finally rid of that heaviness, Ye Yang shifted to human form. Turning around, he noticed that Shen Ming was still holding the few pieces of ore he had dropped. He quickly thanked him and took them.
“Teacher Shen, I haven’t thanked you yet. How did you end up here?”
Shen Ming flexed his now-empty fingers. Seeing Ye Yang with a cheerful smile on his face, completely oblivious to the fact that he had just narrowly escaped death, Shen Ming’s carefully suppressed anger—born from Ye Yang going into danger alone—finally erupted.
“Why did you come here by yourself? Do you realize that the Xuan Turtle Queen is the most ferocious new ruler in the demon realm over the past fifty years?”
Ye Yang: “…I know that now.” He had never seen Shen Ming this angry, and he was a little intimidated.
After a long moment, he finally stammered out an explanation: he had been doing a task for the company, and he hadn’t planned to clash with the Xuan Turtle clan or go after the Lushu deer.
“I just miscalculated the duration of the invisibility talisman on my way back…”
Shen Ming clenched his fists. A thousand words he wanted to say ultimately condensed into a single deep breath.
The spirit snake, which had been suppressed for so long without appearing, took advantage of Shen Ming’s shaken state to emerge and act as his mouthpiece.
“Oh dear, little rabbit, you really messed up this time.” The spirit snake slid off Shen Ming, coiled up from Ye Yang’s calf, and wrapped around him—looking very dangerous.
“At the very least, you should have checked the intelligence department’s files before coming. That Xuan Turtle Queen is a true third-rank demon. She could crush you with one hand.”
Damn, Ye Yang clutched his head in remorse. If he had known that, he would never have come!
Thinking back on his actions, what difference was there between this and walking straight up to the final boss right out of the starting village? He was practically asking to die!
But such important intelligence about the Xuan Turtle Queen—Sister Wu couldn’t possibly not know about it. Yet she wouldn’t deliberately set him up, right? Could she have just forgotten?
……
“Sorry, I forgot. Hehe~”
Back at the company, Ye Yang immediately confronted Sister Wu. She had given him a private job without providing thorough intel—wasn’t that practically trying to get him killed? But after rolling her eyes around wildly, all Sister Wu could come up with was that.
How unreliable could she be?
Sister Wu tried to weasel her way out of it, but Ye Yang wasn’t about to let it slide that easily. He punched the wall, blocking the old crow’s escape route. “How are you going to compensate me?”
Sister Wu’s eyes widened. “You’re fine, aren’t you! Besides, I know you have Black Tortoise protecting you. Is there anywhere you can’t go?”
Ye Yang grew even angrier: “What kind of talk is that? If he hadn’t shown up today, I really would have died there! And Teacher Shen has his own things to do—he can’t follow me around every day!”
Sister Wu muttered, “But he showed up in time, didn’t he…”
Ye Yang didn’t respond. He just silently clenched his fist.
Though Sister Wu was a great demon, when it came purely to fistfights, she was no match for Ye Yang. And this time, she really had wronged him. So she quickly changed her tune: “You brought back so much ore this time. I’ll give you an extra one-fifth of the payment!”
Seeing that Sister Wu was being so reasonable, Ye Yang dropped all pretense: “And on top of that, I want a share of all future pigment sales made from this batch of ore.”
Sister Wu: “…” Damn it. How did this kid learn to be so sly after just one trip out? Give her back her cute, innocent little sea hare!
—
This mission wasn’t a YCG mission, and Ye Yang hadn’t had a chance to tell Shen Ming about it yet. But Teacher Shen still came—and so timely at that!
Even though Teacher Shen had given him a proper scolding, Ye Yang could still tell that Shen Ming was only looking out for him.
Having wasted so much of Shen Ming’s time and made him so angry, Ye Yang bought a lot of good food that evening before heading home, wanting to properly apologize.
He had specifically skipped work to line up at a newly opened hot braised food store that was supposedly incredibly delicious. For this, he had also blown off several mission reports, leaving Chi Lian cursing under his breath while working overtime.
As soon as he got home, he shooed away the little crow that had flown over to peck at the bag, drawn by the aroma. He poured the slightly cooled dishes onto plates and reheated them. Then, a little nervously, he knocked on the door of the apartment across the hall.
Shen Ming had been scowling all afternoon. He had dropped Ye Yang off at the company entrance and left without looking back. Ye Yang wondered if his mood had improved at all.
Just as he thought that, the door in front of him opened.
Before Ye Yang could say anything, Shen Ming took the things from his hand, set them aside casually, and then grabbed his left shoulder. His expression was grim. “Something’s happened. Come with me to Mount Nüyang again.”
—
The sky was growing dark. The sun hadn’t fully set yet, but there was no warmth at all on Mount Nüyang—just a cold, terrifying stillness.
The Guai River was perfectly calm, like the final quiet before a storm.
Half an hour earlier—two hours after Ye Yang and Shen Ming had left—a major incident had occurred on Mount Nüyang.
At that time, the Xuan Turtle Queen had been inspecting the fish farm to patch up patrol gaps when she heard one of her young Xuan Turtle subordinates shouting from afar.
The young Xuan Turtle was terrified, tumbling and scrambling, rolling all the way to the Xuan Turtle Queen’s feet. It shouted, “Bad news, Your Majesty! Dead… so many dead Lushu deer! Their hides have all been stripped off!”
The Xuan Turtle Queen immediately returned to Mount Nüyang and ran straight into the Lushu chieftain.
The chieftain was a Lushu deer who had awakened spiritual intelligence but could not yet take human form. He had protected his clan for several hundred years, and the Xuan Turtle Queen had known him for nearly a century.
As soon as he saw the Xuan Turtle Queen, the Lushu chieftain broke down sobbing, barely able to form a complete sentence. Ever since the Guai River had encircled Mount Nüyang, no Lushu deer in their clan had died violently. Their population had even expanded to occupy both the southern and northern slopes. But today, all of a sudden, several thousand Lushu deer had died at once!
Only the old chieftain and those Lushu deer who had been near him at the time were still alive. Now, they were all gathered together, but not a single Lushu deer knew what had happened.
The chieftain led the Xuan Turtle Queen to the northern slope. There, they saw corpses strewn everywhere. The hides of the dead Lushu deer had been completely stripped off, leaving bloody carcasses piled atop one another. The thick, heavy scent of blood in the air was almost tangible. Under the warm evening light, the air seemed to be filled with a persistent, unmoving blood mist.
One of the Xuan Turtles beside the Queen said angrily, “It must have been those two from earlier! They used the ore to divert our attention, stringing us along while their accomplices carried out the crime!”
The Xuan Turtle Queen didn’t speak. She crouched down and reached out to touch the blood on the ground.
The grass and exposed ore had completely lost their original colors. Layer after layer of thick, sticky red stained everything.
She stood up, expressionless. “Contact Siyang City.”
As one of the fastest-advancing great demons in the demon realm in recent decades, no matter how hot-tempered the Xuan Turtle Queen might be, she wasn’t incapable of using her head.
The most obvious suspects right now were naturally Ye Yang and Shen Ming. Aside from them, no outsider had set foot on Mount Nüyang in months. But the timing and the method didn’t quite add up.
Anyone who could enter the Guai River had to be aquatic. Yet the air here was thick with fire-attribute spiritual energy. However, the possibility that the killer had deliberately left behind traces of fire energy to mislead them couldn’t be ruled out either.
The silent, sudden death of so many Lushu deer was no longer just a matter concerning Mount Nüyang alone. The top priority now was to have nearby Siyang City—the most powerful city in the region—conduct an investigation.
—
Shen Ming had learned the news from Yu Bei.
Just before Ye Yang knocked on his door, Yu Bei, who lived in the Dreamless Sea in the demon realm, heard about the massive case on Mount Nüyang, which had shocked the entire demon realm. He also heard that Siyang City had issued a wanted notice for two demons.
When he looked, weren’t those Ye Yang and Shen Ming?!
By the time Shen Ming brought Ye Yang to Mount Nüyang, the atmosphere there had already become completely different from when they had left that afternoon.
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