Translator: Henyee Translations
Editor: Henyee Translations
Qin Yi didn’t live in boredom for too long because Li Qinglin paid him a visit early the next morning.
Since Qin Yi hadn’t had a full night’s sleep for a few days, he had a lie-in that morning and didn’t get up until quite late. Li Qinglin waited outside his courtyard and didn’t try to wake him up.
Qin Yi had no idea the prince was outside when he woke up. He washed himself unhurriedly, got dressed, and opened the door, thinking that he could practice his club stances. Only then did he spot Li Qinglin, who was enjoying the view of his garden in the courtyard. A young maid of 12 or 13 dressed in black stood quietly behind him.
The sight of the prince baffled Qin Yi. Immediately, he heard Liusu’s voice in his head. “He’s been here for over an hour now and has stopped other people from waking you up.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me when I was washing my face?!” Fighting back his complaints, Qin Yi walked up to Li Qinglin with a big smile on his face. “The crown prince was waiting outside my door for me! I feel so humbled.”
Li Qinglin shifted his gaze away from the flowerbed and smiled at Qin Yi. “You flatter me, but I’m not the crown prince yet.”
“But it’s a done deal, isn’t it?” Qin Yi asked. “It’s not like there’s another candidate.”
Li Qinglin didn’t respond to that. Instead, he seemed to be intrigued by the spiked club in Qin Yi’s hand. “Are you going anywhere with that spiked club? Working out?”
Abashed, Qin Yi could only say, “You’ll see me doing that a lot from now on. Come on in.”
Li Qinglin chuckled and walked inside with him. The young maid followed closely behind him.
Qin Yi didn’t pay much attention to the maid, thinking that it was common for girls of her age to work as a maid in ancient times. What he noticed was Li Qinglin’s attitude, which pleased him. Zhuge Liang had probably felt the same way when he woke up from his nap and found Liu Bei standing outside. Qin Yi suspected this was how the future Prime Minister Zhuge decided to “pledge loyalty to the future emperor”, no matter how sincere the man was at the time.
Zhuge Liang had worked himself to death for Liu Bei, but Qin Yi didn’t plan to do that. [1. Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei were historical figures of the Three Kingdoms period.]
He was still lost in thought when his sack in the corner of the room lit up.
Qin Yi snapped out of his reverie and realized that it was the peach wood sword.
There was no time for him to react. A flash of light flew past him like a streak of lightning, aiming at the young maiden behind them.
Everything happened so suddenly that even Li Qinglin didn’t have time to make a move. He only raised his hand involuntarily to fend off the sword when it flitted past him. Immediately, the maid turned into a black shadow, dodging the sword. But the sword wouldn’t give up. It turned around and charged at the maid again.
The black figure moved so fast that all Qin Yi could see was the black shadow shuttling back and forth in the room. He didn’t pay much attention to the maid’s face earlier. After looking more closely, he saw that black wings seemed to have grown out of her back as she ran away from the sword. As she ran around, she reminded him of a streak of black lightning.
Qin Yi immediately recalled how Li Qinglin had described the assassination of the late crown prince. “There was a shadow flashing past him, and my brother was…”
He didn’t say anything and only turned to look at Li Qinglin.
Strangely, Li Qinglin didn’t say anything either. Instead, he watched the sword chasing the shadow with great interest.
“That’s a demon.” Finally, Qin Yi spoke.
“Yes.” Li Qinglin’s voice was so matter-of-fact that Qin Yi was rendered speechless for a moment.
While they were still talking, the sword had caught up with the black shadow. Blood tainted the tip of the sword, and a black feather slowly drifted to the ground.
The young maid whimpered and fell to the ground. Instinctively, she wrapped her wings around her head, closed her eyes, and prepared to meet her death.
A pretty little girl had just crouched down and buried her head in her hands in front of him… Qin Yi’s head went blank for a moment, and before he knew it, he waved his spiked club. “Stop!”
This seemingly irrelevant move froze the sword in midair right above the maid’s head, and it stopped moving.
The glow disappeared, and the peach wood sword returned to its original appearance. It fell to the ground with a thump and even rebounded a couple of times. Qin Yi could almost hear it complaining in a frustrated voice, “What the heck…”
Li Qinglin was actually chuckling. “Brother Qin, that’s a very special way to stop a spell.”
Qin Yi asked in a serious tone, “Is she one of your people?”
Li Qinglin said, “Yes.”
“She could’ve been killed, but you didn’t try to stop me,” Qin Yi said.
“I was confident that Brother Qin would call it off on behalf of our friendship,” Li Qinglin said.
Qin Yi pursed his lips and heaved a sigh. He didn’t quite agree with what Li Qinglin said. I could’ve taken your silence as a sign of not knowing her and thought of her as an assassin in disguise. I could’ve killed her, Qin Yi thought.
But he didn’t say anything and only turned to look at the maid. She indeed had the childish face of a 12- or 13-year-old teenage girl. Crouching with her face pale, she was pressing the wound on her right arm with her left hand and staring at the peach wood sword in terror, as if she feared it would move again.
A pair of black feathered wings resembling a cape was on her back. Right now, they were folded up by her body. The glossy black feathers reflected the sunlight, and the tips of the wings were as sharp as arrows. She looked amazing.
There was nothing demon-like about her. She looked like every other pretty teenage girl, and to anyone who didn’t know she was a demon, they could’ve easily taken her folded wings as a specially made cape. Travellers wore all sorts of strange clothes out there, and hers hardly stood out. Qin Yi didn’t notice her wings when he saw her at first.
According to what Liusu told him, this demon was an accomplished one in her Transformation Stage, which was equivalent to Minghe’s Lute Heart Stage. The two of them probably weren’t equally matched in their stages however. After all, Minghe had almost reached perfection in her stage, but this one probably hadn’t been in this stage for long.
No matter how long she had been at this stage, she was still equivalent to a human cultivator who had established their foundation. Without someone as capable as Minghe nearby, this girl probably would’ve been invincible in Nanli. No wonder Li Qinglin was confident enough to travel so far. She alone could… well…
“Brother Li…” Qin Yi studied the maid for a very long time before he said hesitantly, “I think we need some sort of introduction here.”
Li Qinglin reacted quickly and grinned. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen Brother Qin unable to look away from a girl. I see that you’re attracted to girls of her age… Would you like to keep her? You’ll need a bodyguard, after all.”
Liusu spoke between gritted teeth: “Qin Yi, you’re gross…”
Qin Yi kept his face very straight.
“You flatter me. Having a demon in the Transformation Stage working as my bodyguard is something I can’t even begin to imagine,” Qin Yi said. “Brother Li, have you forgotten about the Zhang Manor already?”
Li Qinglin smiled. “That’s right. She’s a demon, and she’s obtained her human form. She has created her own look, and her age fits her as well. She’s nothing like that Mrs. Zhang, who was only wearing human skin as a shell.”
Qin Yi turned to study Li Qinglin’s face, but the latter remained unperturbed.
“I think I told you this before. A lot of the time, demons are much easier to work with than humans. If I can hire humans, why not demons?” Li Qinglin said. “Night Wing has made a blood oath and has always been loyal to me. It suddenly occurred to me that the two of you might get along really well. However, I’d still like to give you a piece of advice. You saw what happened in the Zhang Manor, so even if you’re into that, you have to control yourself…”
Qin Yi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. How was he supposed to respond to that ridiculous suggestion?
Li Qinglin had been so frank that he made hiding a demon in his house appear to be a normal thing. Not only did he not make a fuss about it, but he also wanted to give her away just like that… Well, ordinary people wouldn’t link the assissination of the crown prince to the fact that Li Qinglin had a demon living under his roof. On the surface, the two things weren’t related.
Even if they were, theoretically, Qin Yi believed he would have nothing to do with it.
Li Qinglin patted Qin Yi on the shoulder and chuckled. “Shall we go inside or do you have another sword?”
Qin Yi shook his head and led the other two into his room. While he and Li Qinglin sat down opposite each other, the teenage-girl-in-black known as “Night Wing” stood quietly behind Li Qinglin and studied Qin Yi curiously, as if trying to find a second nose on his face.
Despite the calm look on his face, Qin Yi was fidgeting within. She might look like a teenage girl, but she was as powerful as a human cultivator of the Foundation Establishment Stage only inferior to Minghe, whom Liusu kept on singing praises for. Li Qinglin had such a wonderfully powerful creature at home, so of course he didn’t need to find any immortal man!
After some thought, Qing Yi said, “Well… Miss Night Wing, is it? Please take a seat.”
Night Wing seemed to be surprised by the invitation. Her eyelashes quivered, but she remained standing there without any response.
“Tsk, tsk. What a reticent, expressionless, and unresponsive girl.” Qin Yi ignored her after that and started preparing some tea. He then turned to Li Qinglin and said, “You’re here on some other business, I presume?”
Li Qinglin had been studying Qin Yi with an intrigued smile this whole time. Qin Yi didn’t comment on the demon he had been raising. Instead, he had just offered her a seat. It all happened so naturally that it roused his interest.
He wondered if he could tell Qin Yi more about his plan.