Rules

Yan Jue: “......”

Yan Jue looked up and met Qi Xianqing’s gaze.

There was a faint smile in Qi Xianqing’s eyes, but her concern was real.

Yan Jue knew very well that Qi Xianqing was not only the Dream-Charm Monarch who had slain countless demons, but also the beloved Senior Sister of the Five Dragons Sect; caring for her junior disciples was second nature to her.

But was it really appropriate for the two of them to be like this?

Qi Xianqing was straight, but Yan Jue, coming from a modern and open-minded world, understood her own orientation very clearly.

It definitely wasn’t appropriate!

Yan Jue froze, then immediately dropped her hand. “No need. It’s just a minor injury; I can handle it myself.”

Qi Xianqing seemed to have heard something extremely rare. She lifted her eyes slightly. “You’re embarrassed about taking your clothes off in front of me? You get shy too?”

She was genuinely a little surprised. She had thought someone like Yan Jue would only get shy in front of the person she liked.

For example, that Junior Brother Chu.

Yan Jue: “I’m not embarrassed!”

Yan Jue paused. “We’re both women. What’s there to be embarrassed about?”

Qi Xianqing looked at her calmly. “If that’s so, then what is Junior Sister worried about?”

Yan Jue was already bad at talking, and with Qi Xianqing teasing her like this, she had no idea what to say at all. She could only swallow a flat-faced “No way.”

Qi Xianqing’s gaze swept over the red flush at her ears; the corner of her lips curved almost imperceptibly.

“Mosquito demons bite differently from ordinary mosquitoes. Five hours after being bitten, the poison in the wound will flare up, and it will become unbearably itchy; the pain will be unbearable.”

With her fingers resting on the dark-black longsword at her waist, Qi Xianqing slowly walked toward the door. “Since Junior Sister is shy, then tonight you might as well enjoy that feeling properly.”

Yan Jue’s face burned. She couldn’t help shouting after her, “I’m no—”

“......”

Forget it. The more she said, the less clear it became.

After Qi Xianqing left, the pain in Yan Jue’s chest grew more intense.

She lightly pressed the aching spot and couldn’t help but overturn the thought she’d had earlier in Huang Niangzi’s room.

She had clearly been fine just now; only after she had recalled Huang Niangzi’s soul into her body had her chest started to hurt.

Could it be because... she had interfered with the plot?

Or perhaps she had interfered with the development of the male and female leads’ relationship, which was why her chest hurt so badly?

Maybe this world wasn’t developing randomly at all, but had its own fixed rules; and as a cannon fodder character, if she violated those rules, she would be punished.

...

She still didn’t know for sure. She would leave this question to be answered slowly in the future.

Yan Jue then untied her inner robe and reached behind her, straining with all her strength, but she still couldn’t reach the spot where she’d been bitten by the insect.

She couldn’t help thinking of what Qi Xianqing had said just now; that after being bitten by mosquito demons, one would become unbearably itchy and suffer terribly... She only felt the spot on her back, whether bitten by mosquitoes or mosquito demons, growing itchier and itchier, until it was starting to drive her crazy.

This was bad.

She should have asked Qi Xianqing to apply the medicine for her earlier...

“......” Never mind.

Even if they were both women, it wouldn’t have mattered; but she still had the scar on her back from the giant serpent that had smashed into her by the lakeside last time. If Qi Xianqing saw it, there was no guarantee she wouldn’t become suspicious.

If things went badly, and Qi Xianqing suddenly sensed her demon aura and finished her off with one strike, then it would be over.

She was a fox demon; for now, she still couldn’t leave Five Dragons Mountain. She had to be cautious in everything.

After applying anti-itch medicine, Yan Jue changed into a light, convenient dress and headed out.

She wanted to stroll through the market and distract herself.

Although the Five Dragons Sect never lacked resources like rare treasures of heaven and earth, the things sold at Five Dragons Market always had one defining feature: expensive.

The things in the market at the foot of the mountain were undoubtedly much cheaper.

It was just that Nanxing Town was mostly populated by ordinary commoners, and Yan Jue wandered around the market for quite a while before she finally spotted a shop selling cultivation tools at the very end of the main street.

Yan Jue walked up to the counter and touched the weapons displayed there.

When carrying out missions outside, danger could come at any time.

Yan Jue thought that perhaps she could exchange the Spirit Stones on her for a few handy hidden weapons.

She picked up a throwing dart and asked, “How much is this?”

The shopkeeper had one leg crossed over the other as he read the paper, not even bothering to lift his eyes. “Six per set; two hundred and forty low-grade Spirit Stones in total.”

Yan Jue: “...... So expensive.”

There were also a few dark, heavy-looking items on the counter, which Yan Jue examined one by one.

All of them were expensive...

Yan Jue knew all too well how important Spirit Stones were in this world, and she was reluctant to use them lightly.

After leaving the tools shop, Yan Jue somehow found herself at the foot of the city wall, when something suddenly flashed through her mind.

Myriad Demons Pavilion.

If every city had a place called Myriad Demons Pavilion, then even a tiny town like Nanxing Town should have one.

She just didn’t know where the Myriad Demons Pavilion here was.

Yan Jue wasn’t panicking at all. The last time she had gone to the Myriad Demons Pavilion in Qingye Town, she’d already asked clearly about it.

She closed her eyes and stood beneath the city wall for a while before opening them again.

If someone looked closely at her eyes, they would see that within the depths of those clear amber pupils, a faint golden light had lit up.

Yan Jue looked up and saw the vast dome of the sky overhead, deep and immaculate.

Very far away at the edge of the heavens, a thick mass of black qi lingered.

Wherever demons gathered, demonic qi would be dense.

And as a fox demon, she had the innate ability to distinguish demonic qi.

Joy surged in Yan Jue’s heart. There really was a Myriad Demons Pavilion here.

Following the demonic qi, Yan Jue quickly found her way there.

The Myriad Demons Pavilion in Nanxing Town seemed to be larger than the one in Qingye Town; it was located inside a huge karst cave at the edge of the forest outside Nanxing Town.

One cave chamber was lit as brightly as day, with countless tiny paths branching out in all directions.

The place was noisy and bustling; all around her were demons coming and going with goods to trade. Demonic qi was thick in the air, and there also seemed to be a faint trace of blood...

When Yan Jue reached the entrance, she was stopped by a wild wolf spirit guarding the cave. “A human!”

As soon as the words fell, the surrounding demons’ gazes swept over all at once.

Yan Jue perked up her ears. Her jet-black ears, dark as ink, flicked left and right as she said impatiently, “A demon.”

No wonder; she was currently wearing the Demon-Locking Band, which sealed away all her demonic qi. It was only natural that they would mistake her for a human.

Once her true form emerged, her demonic qi would inevitably leak out. The wild wolf spirit quickly sniffed her aura and said, “So it’s Red Fox Niangzi. My apologies!”

After all, fox demons ranked very high on the Demon Rankings, and with the Ghost Mansion Fox Clan renowned far and wide, the wild wolf spirit didn’t want to invite trouble.

Yan Jue had exchanged many hairpins and ornaments at the Five Dragons Market last time and was well supplied, so she didn’t mind.

She stopped at a stall selling weapons.

Very quickly, her eye was caught by several sleeve arrows sharpened to an extreme.

Yan Jue picked one up and looked it over. The shopkeeper introduced it to her: “Every arrow here has been infused with gold, wood, water, fire, and earth runes. When fired, the runes will trigger at random.”

The things in Myriad Demons Pavilion were indeed much cheaper. Yan Jue’s hairpins and ornaments were all made of pure gold this time, and several of them were even inlaid with exquisitely crafted gemstones. She used ten golden hairpins to exchange for a box of six sleeve arrows.

Yan Jue put the sleeve arrows into her Qiankun pouch with satisfaction, then started wandering around the cave.

Although she was also a fox demon, she still couldn’t quite get used to the atmosphere of a place where demons gathered.

Everything around her felt gloomy.

Not far away, several leopards were fighting; one sturdy one had torn the shoulder flesh off a thinner leopard and was carrying it in its mouth as if to show off.

“......”

No wonder the entire cultivation world steered clear of the demon realm.

Yan Jue stopped at a medicine stall and saw the same pheasant spirit from last time.

Yan Jue: “?”

Pheasant Spirit: “The one you saw last time was my elder sister. Our pheasant clan specializes in selling medicine; our effects are extremely good! Guaranteed to pay off, no loss!”

Qi Xianqing had said earlier that mosquito bites would become unbearably itchy.

Yan Jue therefore picked through the goods and took several packets of mosquito repellent.

Then she suddenly remembered something and asked, “Boss, do you have medicine specifically for driving away mosquito demons?”

Pheasant Spirit: “Huh? You want wound medicine specifically for mosquito demons? That’s very expensive, you know.”

Yan Jue stared at her expressionlessly. “I want two packs of medicine that repel mosquito demons.”

The pheasant spirit had no choice but to bend down and lift up a brightly colored spirit beast from under the table, then took out a small bowl from the cabinet and muttered under her breath, “To prevent mosquito bites... we need North Mountain Fruit, mosquito demon blood...” She added several medicinal ingredients into the bowl.

The spirit beast quickly ate up the prepared medicinal mixture, then kicked hard with its hind legs and excreted several pale green pills.

That night, Yan Jue used up more than ten hairpins she had exchanged from Five Dragons Mountain last time all at once, and even added three purses and more than fifty low-grade Spirit Stones.

Yan Jue cried out in pain over the loss. She had originally saved up quite a lot, but in the blink of an eye, she was almost out again.

-

Yan Jue couldn’t be bothered to walk anymore, so on the way back she transformed into a little fox, carrying a flower basket in her mouth, and came to the base of the Huang residence’s wall.

With a leap, she sprang onto the walltop, then landed lightly on the other side; all four furry paws touched the grass steadily.

Just as Yan Jue was about to return to her room, she suddenly paused.

From the pavilion ahead, a faint voice carrying conversation drifted over.

Yan Jue looked up, and when she made out the two people inside the pavilion, she froze.

Moonlight slanted down, falling across the handsome side profile of a young man.

Chu Fu was kneeling in the pavilion, his expression very earnest.

And standing before him was a familiar figure in a snow-white dress, slender in build, her beautiful peach-blossom eyes deep and restrained. Who else could it be but Qi Xianqing?

The Soul-Summoning Mirror had been placed on a chair in the pavilion, and Qi Xianqing’s expression was faint as she gave casual pointers.

Chu Fu nodded in a hurry.

Yan Jue watched, and her heart somehow went hollow.

Chu Fu was someone who was always humble in matters of cultivation; he was already at the peak of Qi Refinement and was just about to break through to the Great Circle of Qi Refinement.

Right now, he was probably asking Qi Xianqing for guidance, especially after suffering such a huge setback with the Soul-Summoning Mirror earlier.

In the original story, the male lead had always been an unassuming person, and the famous Dream-Charm Monarch was broad-minded and without selfish motives. Since she held no prejudice against the male lead, she would naturally teach him everything she knew.

And before long, the two of them would develop feelings.

Yan Jue looked at this scene and silently took a few steps forward, as though some force were stopping her from getting any closer.

Invisibly, it built a high wall, separating her from the male and female leads.

Yan Jue’s chest began to ache fiercely again.

In that instant, she suddenly understood that this strange pain in her chest really did seem to be related to whether she was interfering with the development of the male and female leads’ relationship.

Because the male lead was destined to be with the female lead; she couldn’t interfere, and she couldn’t stop it.

Could it be that the rules of this world could not be changed?

Yan Jue hurried back to her room and fell onto the bed. Remembering what Qi Xianqing had said, after she turned back into human form, she didn’t dare hesitate. She quickly smeared the medicine for mosquito demon bites onto her back.

But it was strange. Why had Qi Xianqing said the mosquito poison would definitely flare up within six hours of the bite, yet she still didn’t feel any pain now?

After struggling for a long while, Yan Jue suddenly remembered something and flung the medicine onto the bed.

Could Qi Xianqing have been scaring her!!