A parasol was propped up beside the fountain, and three humans and two demons dined in the shade it cast.
Li Fei slurped noisily at a cup of instant noodles—spicy beef flavor, with a marinated egg soaking inside.
A trace of resentment colored her expression, and she mumbled indistinctly, "Careless of me. I should've bought more fresh vegetables back in the city…"
The Pocket Residence had one major flaw: it had no way to keep food fresh, which meant Li Fei could only carry things with long shelf lives—that is, instant noodles in different flavors. Unlike a spatial ring, where you could toss in a fresh-cooked pork knuckle and pull it out a year later still steaming hot.
After all, the former mainly compressed physical objects, while the latter carved out an independent, stable fragment of space where time scarcely flowed.
A small oversight meant that two nights ago there had still been a few leafy greens floating in the pot when she ate her noodles, but today the vegetables had all gone bad, and she had to make do with pickled ones.
At least she had brought plenty of saltpeter, so she could still enjoy an ice-cold cola.
Crunch, crunch…
Li Fei tipped her head back and emptied the last half-dish of crisp pickled vegetables into her mouth. When she lowered her gaze again, she noticed a middle-aged man walking toward her.
He wore coarse cloth garments, a sword case slung across his back, his face weathered, his hairpin somewhat disheveled, as though he had been on the road for days with no time to tidy himself. His curly beard was likewise touched with the frost of travel, and his smiling eyes seemed to hold a great many stories.
"Smells wonderful."
The man walked toward them with a smile.
"It tastes even better."
Running into a strange man out here in these demon-infested wild hills and desolate ridges, Li Fei showed no surprise at all. She rose, dragged over a chair for him, then grabbed two cups of noodles from a box and tossed them across. "Give them a try. A specialty from my hometown."
"Many thanks."
The man didn't decline. He sat down easily to one side and, following Li Fei's instructions, tore open the packaging and steeped the noodles in boiling water.
Qiao'er studied the man from the corner of her eye, and, seeming to realize something, grew a little excited, while Wang Yutong wore a thoroughly baffled look.
"To think there could be noodles this fragrant in the world."
Three minutes later, the man lifted the lid, and a rush of steam washed over his face. A word of praise escaped him before he dug into the still-slightly-firm noodles in big mouthfuls, draining even the soup down to the last drop.
"There's more if that's not enough."
Li Fei said, jutting out her lips.
"No need. We're strangers who met by chance—eating one bowl of your noodles is a good affinity; any more would be greed."
The man wiped his mouth, clearly still wanting more.
"Then have a drink, at least."
Li Fei fished a can of cola out of the ice water she had made with saltpeter, popped it open with a crack, and held it out. Only then did she ask, "Hero Nie, have you come to slay demons and vanquish evil?"
With that single remark, Li Fei laid bare her own nature as a demon, yet the man showed no surprise. He smiled and said, "I only slay wicked demons."
"Oh? So Hero Nie thinks I'm a good demon?"
Li Fei arched an eyebrow.
"A demon that has eaten humans carries a stench; I can smell it from a long way off. You don't have it." There was a note of wonder in the man's tone. "To have cultivated all the way to the Heaven Realm without ever devouring a human, and to live in harmony with the human race besides… If every sprite under heaven were like you, this world would likely never have fallen into chaos."
"That's not necessarily so. Even without demons and monsters, the world would be no more at peace. Demons devour humans, and humans devour humans too—only the manner of it differs." Li Fei waved a hand. "This truth, I imagine Hero Nie understands better than I do."
"True enough."
The man paused, then let out a wry chuckle, though the glint of blades and swords flickered through his eyes.
As the two spoke, Qiao'er grew restless, like a fan who had spotted her idol; even Wang Yutong caught on and blurted out, "Hero Nie? You're the Hero Nie Yunyi?"
"I dare not claim the title of hero. Just call me Old Nie."
Nie Yunyi said with an easy laugh.
The people in the Song Kingdom who could truly be called household names were few. The one who stirred the most imagination was, naturally, that peerlessly beautiful Empress, mother of the realm. The one who inspired the most dread was, without question, the current holder of power in the Demon Suppression Bureau, Eunuch Lu Qianfan, revered as "Nine Thousand Years." But if you asked who in all the Great Song the common folk admired most, then the Demon Suppression Bureau's previous commander, the Demon-Vanquishing General Nie Yunyi, took that place without contest.
Nie Yunyi had come from bitter poverty and was a nobody in his youth, until he enlisted during a court conscription drive. Then, like an awl in a bag whose point could no longer be hidden, he began to stand out, achieving one remarkable feat after another, his cultivation base soaring ever higher, forcing his way up from a lowly foot soldier to the rank of Chiliarch.
Later he was transferred into the Demon Suppression Bureau, and through one brutal battle after another, treading over the bones of countless demons, he broke through into the Innate realm, becoming one of the Great Song's precious few Earthly Immortals and taking the highest seat in the Demon Suppression Bureau.
And Nie Yunyi was respected not merely for the legend of his early years, but even more because he was a good official.
Born to the lower rungs, he charged in first whenever demons appeared, never took part in petty schemes or dirty dealings, and kept his subordinates on a strict rein, forbidding them to run wild.
It could be said that during Nie Yunyi's tenure, the atmosphere within the Demon Suppression Bureau was far cleaner than in years past.
In the end, however, Nie Yunyi fell in an internal power struggle. The exact truth behind it was told a dozen different ways, but the result was that Nine Thousand Years took over the Demon Suppression Bureau—and the world lost a General Nie admired by the masses, who hated evil like a mortal foe, and gained a Hero Nie who roamed everywhere slaying demons and vanquishing evil.
The first Li Fei had ever heard of this man was from Lü Zhengchun's own confession—after all, Nie Yunyi made no effort to hide his movements, and the moment he reached Luyuan County he had wiped out a nest of human traffickers. Over these past two days of reading, Li Fei had come across Nie Yunyi's name more than a few times, and had gained a rough sense of his life and deeds.
Steady, unceasing thought had prepared Li Fei to face this Hero Nie head-on.
"Old Nie, then."
Li Fei took the cue readily and inquired after his purpose. "You came here for the elixir of immortality?"
"I've come to collect a debt from the Tree Demon."
Nie Yunyi said sincerely.
"The Tree Demon owes you money?"
Li Fei asked, intrigued.
"A debt of blood." Nie Yunyi shook his head. "Over the years it has killed at least several thousand people. I've come to collect on their behalf."
"Ohh… so you've come to sound me out about that Tree Demon's movements?" Li Fei propped up her chin, musing. "If my guess is right, you were watching me these past couple of days. Last night, when the Tree Demon hosted a banquet for me, you followed the whole way, hoping to find its lair.
"Only that Tree Demon is viciously cunning—last night it showed itself through nothing but an avatar. Even though it later opened a passage with demonic arts to bring me to its lair, you couldn't get in, since it could sever the passage at any moment."
"An expedient measure. My apologies for the offense."
Nie Yunyi openly admitted to his surveillance over these two days and offered Li Fei an apology.
"I know where the Tree Demon hides, but I can't tell you." Seeing that Nie Yunyi had made his purpose plain, Li Fei spoke frankly as well. "I've signed a [Black Wood Contract] with it. If I betray it, the contract takes effect and turns me into something neither human nor ghost."
"…"
Nie Yunyi watched Li Fei in silence, waiting for the rest.
"Of course, I have a way to break the Black Wood Contract, but acting rashly now would gain me nothing except startling the snake in the grass." Li Fei went on, unhurried. "The place where that Tree Demon hides is very secure. You won't catch it—you can only wait for the right moment to strike."
"I see… but why do you want to kill that Tree Demon?"
The question spilled out of Nie Yunyi, his deep, world-weary eyes fixed on Li Fei's, as if they could pierce every lie under heaven and bring an intangible pressure to bear.
"To carry out justice in Heaven's name."
Facing the abruptly rising pressure, Li Fei didn't so much as change color, every word landing with weight, her performance as steady as ever.
At last Nie Yunyi let a flicker of astonishment show, finding it all rather absurd.
He was no blind man. After two days of watching, Nie Yunyi had long since realized this demon woman was of no ordinary origin.
One must understand that Nie Yunyi had slain countless demons in his life—a veritable walking encyclopedia of demonkind—yet the power coiled within this demon woman felt utterly unfamiliar to him, wildly unlike any demon or monster in the world. As for the food she produced and the dwelling that grew large in the wind, these were things he had never even heard of. The latter especially defied all reason; to say nothing of the Song Kingdom, not even in other realms could there exist so miraculous a magic treasure.
And now this unfathomable demon woman claimed she meant to kill a demon king to win justice for humankind?
Li Fei remained composed, her tone light as drifting cloud and passing breeze:
"So our goals align… Of course, if Hero Nie doesn't believe me, then wait and see. Once I've slaughtered that Tree Demon, everything will make itself clear."
"Very well."
Seeing he would get nothing more out of her, Nie Yunyi simply stood. "Since you too want that Tree Demon dead, then let each of us rely on our own means."
"Then why don't we make a wager?" Struck by an idea, Li Fei proposed, "Whoever kills that Tree Demon wins. The loser must grant the winner one request—nothing, of course, that violates public morals and decency."
"If you truly kill that Tree Demon, what's the harm in granting you ten requests, or a hundred?" Nie Yunyi casually picked up the cola Li Fei had pushed in front of him earlier, tipped his head back and took a big gulp, and arched an eyebrow. "Is this wine? No, not quite… but the taste is good."
"I don't drink. This is a summer cooler from my hometown."
Li Fei said softly.
This was the second time Li Fei had mentioned her hometown, and Nie Yunyi mused, "It seems your hometown must be a fine place…"
"Once I've won the wager, we can talk it over properly."
Li Fei's smile turned a touch sly.
"Good."
Nie Yunyi gave the empty wine gourd at his waist a shake, meaning to pour the cola into it, but Li Fei stopped him.
"This drink is best finished within the time it takes to sip two cups of tea, or the flavor fades badly."
"All right. Thank you for the hospitality."
Nie Yunyi set down the wine gourd with regret and turned to leave—then suddenly stopped, his gaze falling on Qiao'er. "This girl's natural gifts are excellent, truly excellent. Her spiritual aura is striking."
"…"
The sudden praise left Qiao'er at a loss, but before she could get out a single word, Nie Yunyi had already departed.
After only a few strides, that travel-worn figure vanished from their sight.
—That went reasonably well.
Li Fei let out a breath, her ever-taut nerves easing a little.
She had always been good at improvising, at turning her core advantages toward her own interests—just as she had in Folded Space D-07.
Thanks to the intelligence she had gathered over these past days and her deepening grasp of the Demon-Sealing Continent, she had already mapped out a plan for what came next—though carrying it out would be no simple thing.
Take this Nie Yunyi, for instance. The books were full of his heroic deeds, Qiao'er held him in the highest esteem, and even a scumbag like Lü Zhengchun spoke his name with an unconscious note of awe—yet Li Fei still didn't dare rashly conclude that this fellow was truly a good man.
After all, no one knew better than she did how chaotic and dark a heart lay within a certain Miss Philanthropist who likewise enjoyed a fine reputation.
And so, when Nie Yunyi appeared, she had seemed calm, but her attention had never for a single moment left the System Store.
The instant things looked bad, Li Fei would have bought a Flying Broom without hesitation and fled, then returned to Loxibrook to round up help and, together with her dear best friend, grind this wretch's bones to powder and scatter the ash.
Mercifully, after their brief exchange, Li Fei's initial judgment was that this Hero Nie was most likely a good man in the truest sense—and since he was a good man, there was room to hold him hostage to his own morals.
Beyond that…
Li Fei patted Qiao'er's shoulder and said with a beaming smile, "See? Even Hero Nie praised our Qiao'er's outstanding talent."
Nie Yunyi's story was genuinely inspiring: born to nothing, he had climbed step by step to become the Great Song's steadying pillar, and even after he left the court in indignation, he had not chosen to fade into obscurity, but roamed with a single sword, righting wrongs and defending the weak. He was, one could say, the idol and aspiration of countless suffering commoners—and Qiao'er was no exception.
"But…"
Qiao'er looked a little lost.
Over all these years she had always been the lowliest of maidservants; had she met a violent end one day, no one would have spared her a thought.
She had never imagined that in these few days, not only would a demon woman capable of ruining kingdoms take a special liking to her, but even the universally admired Hero Nie would affirm her aptitude… Such an enormous swing in her fortunes left even the precocious, ever-composed Qiao'er with a sense of unreality, as though she were living in a dream.
"Apart from reading rather quickly and having an Eidetic Memory, I don't seem any different from anyone else."
Caught in self-doubt, Qiao'er murmured the words under her breath.
"Don't sell yourself short. From the very first moment I laid eyes on you, I knew our Qiao'er was one of a kind."
Li Fei—who had originally only coveted Qiao'er's beauty and meant to raise herself a little assistant—smiled sweetly as she spun her pretty promises. "Don't worry, I won't let your talent go to waste."
"Hmph."
Unable to get a word in, Wang Yutong turned her head aside with a sour little sniff.
She had meant to say something, but Eva merely gave her one sweetly smiling glance, and the young mistress clamped her legs together and shivered, a flush rising on her pale, haggard face, her eyes going hazy.
Qiao'er, right beside her, never noticed the strange state of the young mistress she had secretly loved for years.
—Still, appraising aptitude with the naked eye—an ordinary mid-Sequence Transcendent couldn't manage that, could they? That Nie Yunyi is probably more than a simple Sequence 6… He might make a great ally, or he might cause no small amount of trouble…
Seeing that Qiao'er had steadied herself and buried her head in her book again, Li Fei stopped disturbing her, idly dipping her fingertips into the fountain to stir the water, her gaze drifting far to the south—toward Lin'an, the capital of the Song Dynasty.
Nan Commandery.
Black and white energies wove together, gathering into a scythe that fell straight down from overhead.
A man in a brown python robe toppled backward, splashing into the mud with a heavy thud. His body bore no outward wound, yet the life within him had been utterly severed, and his thick black hair turned ashen and withered in the blink of an eye.
Nearby, the "condemned prisoners" he had been guarding turned their heads one after another, staring at the corpse sprawled and unmoving on the ground. A faint spark of life finally surfaced on their numb, despairing faces—yet even so, no one dared to run.
Then the golden-haired, blue-eyed demon woman worked her demonic arts once more, conjuring a dozen or so bundles and stacking them in a heap on the ground.
"Inside there are maps, food, clothes, and some money. Run, quickly—otherwise the Demon Suppression Bureau's people will be back before long."
Having offered her gentle counsel, Lilith paid no more heed to the prisoners exchanging bewildered glances and walked alone to the corpse of a female prisoner, barely clothed and covered in wounds. In a low voice she said, "Death, too, is a beginning."
A hazy white radiance welled up from the tip of her staff and shrouded the dead woman.
When the light faded, the once-ferocious face of the corpse had closed its eyes, its expression turned serene.
In that brief span, the captive prisoners came back to their senses, reacting each in their own way.
"Seize her, hurry, seize her! This demon woman killed one of the Demon Suppression Bureau's men—if we don't earn a pardon through merit, my whole family, young and old, will be buried alongside us!"
A man roared himself hoarse, eyes bulging.
"Demons everywhere—how am I supposed to survive… I beg you, have mercy, take us with you…"
A middle-aged woman knelt before her, sobbing and pleading.
Of the dozen-odd prisoners, only three actually took the bundles and left; and of those three, only one thanked Lilith before hurrying off.
"Catch this demon woman, and not only will we live—we might even win the favor of the Demon Suppression Bureau's lords!"
The man kept clamoring, trying to rouse the others, though he didn't dare make the first move himself.
Lilith swept an expressionless glance over him, as though looking at a corpse, then mounted her broom, and in a single toss of her golden ponytail her petite figure vanished into the sky.
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