The man was none other than Qing Yi, the third-generation disciple of Mount Daze. Though only a thousand years old, he was a senior among the Immortal youth and an apprentice to the godlike Yuan Qi. Today, by coincidence, he’d led a heavenly army to Mount Mu Xiao after detecting an ominous surge of demonic energy.
A celestial guard approached and reported, “Your Lordship, no demons were found on the mountain.”
“They fled quickly,” Qing Yi murmured, grimly. “For demons to enter the mortal realm and slaughter so recklessly…this breaches the truce between the three realms! Report this to the Golden Sun Immortal.”
“Yes, my lord!”
“The rest of you, follow me!”
“Yes!”
Down the mountain, the Virtue-Donkey ran tirelessly. When the moon finally rose, it reached a riverside and collapsed, panting with exhaustion.
Bai Shuo dismounted, throwing herself under a tree and retching. Once she had composed herself, she gently set Chong Zhao against the tree trunk.
“You fool!” she muttered, shaking her head at Chong Zhao. “What were you thinking? This world is no place to roam freely.” She sighed up at the moon with an air of exaggerated wisdom. “All I’ve seen are demons—where are the Immortals when you need them?”
“Oh? So, you have a problem with demons?” The cold voice cut through the silence.
Bai Shuo snapped her head up and froze at the sight of Fan Yue. Leaning casually against a tree, he gazed up at the moon, his red robes billowing in the breeze, his posture both relaxed and intimidating.
“Good heavens!” Bai Shuo leapt to her feet, pointing at Fan Yue. “You, you, you…” She recovered herself, quickly retracting her finger, and broke into a sincere smile. “Mu…brother Mu! You escaped! Thank goodness!”
The Virtue-Donkey, drinking by the river, saw Fan Yue, went limp, and collapsed in a dead faint.
Fan Yue’s cold gaze swept over Bai Shuo. “Stop pretending.”
Bai Shuo clammed up, looking sheepish.
A gust of wind swept by, and Fan Yue landed lightly in front of her. She skittered backward, but he paid her no attention, moving toward the unconscious Chong Zhao. Bai Shuo’s heart raced, and she quickly shouted.
“Between you and me—he has nothing to do with it! If you have something to settle, come at me!”
Fan Yue halted, then turned to her with a lazy gaze. “When did you realize I wasn’t human, but a demon?”
“Well…” Bai Shuo scratched her head, eyeing him curiously. “Do you really want to know?”
Fan Yue’s gaze turned icy, and Bai Shuo shivered. “I can’t really take credit for it—it was you who gave yourself away!”
“Oh?” Fan Yue’s interest was piqued. “And what gave me away?”
Bai Shuo looked Fan Yue up and down, blinking in bewilderment. "Lord Fan, do you demons have some… misunderstanding about us mortals?" She pointed to her head.
Fan Yue frowned, but Bai Shuo, despite trembling, continued talking.
"We may be mortals, but we’re not idiots. Do you really think that if I woke up alone in the middle of the night in a forest, and some pretty young lord handed me two wild fruits, I'd believe everything he said?" Bai Shuo grumbled. "Not even storybooks are that obvious."
Fan Yue's face darkened slightly.
Bai Shuo pulled down her collar, showing a bruise on her neck. "If you’re trying to fool someone, your servant should’ve gone a little lighter on that chop to the neck. This bruise is still here!” She rolled her eyes. “And those wolves and bandits? They miraculously couldn’t find us all night, then suddenly showed up as soon as we stepped out of the cave?"
Bai Shuo grew increasingly animated, completely forgetting who she was talking to. She slapped her hand on Fan Yue’s shoulder. “Buddy, that old ‘hurt myself to gain sympathy’ trick doesn’t work—I stopped pulling that on my dad by the time I was eight!”
A cold stare silenced her. Realizing the stony look on Fan Yue's face, she awkwardly withdrew her hand, chuckling nervously. "You—you asked for my honest answer… I just…!"
Halfway through her sentence, she was cut off, her words choked off by a freezing, silver band that suddenly clamped around her neck, tightening until she couldn’t breathe.
Fan Yue glared at her icily. “You dare to act clever in front of me? Who are you, really? Immortal or demon?”
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