Luring the Snake

Ordinary people, frail as they were, often worshiped all kinds of gods.

Nanxing Town in particular had shrines to all sorts of illicit deities, both large and small, and the temple of the Thousand-Eyed Macaque God was one of the places that received offerings.

Only, the common folk were simple and honest; they might not know that the god they worshiped was nothing more than an evil spirit.

The Macaque God governed marriage and childbirth.

Not only married women, but even unmarried young ladies would come here to pray for a good match.

At noon, a girl in a silver-crimson cross-collared ru skirt with loose black hair walked toward the shrine.

She was plain-looking, but she unexpectedly had a pair of extremely lively eyes.

Her gaze was bright and sparkling; her whole face seemed to glow.

This young woman had already been here for three days in a row to pay homage to the Monkey God. She knelt softly and murmured again and again, “Please bless me to bear a son. Please bless me to bear a son.”

The temple was silent. Candle flames swayed, casting eerie shadows on the walls.

The monkey god statue sat motionless above, its golden face wearing a strange smile in the dim light.

The young woman who had come to pay her respects was Yan Jue.

Only, what she now presented to the world was no longer that breathtakingly beautiful girl.

With Qi Xianqing’s help, Yan Jue had successfully changed her appearance.

Of course she knew looks might be worthless in the face of these demons and evils; they probably would not care much about her face. What mattered most was her yin essence.

Under a large pine tree not far from the temple, Qi Xianqing watched the front in silence, the black sword at her waist; her fair fingers rested lightly on the blade.

Chu Fu frowned. “Senior Sister, don’t let Yan Jue keep making a scene. The deadline for this task is seven days, and five have already passed! With Senior Sister’s strength, if you’d gone looking for it yourself, you’d have found it long ago.”

Qi Xianqing slowly closed her eyes and said nothing.

Seeing that she had no reaction, Chu Fu stepped forward and knelt before her. “Senior Sister probably doesn’t know what kind of person Yan Jue is, but I know very well. Yan Jue is hopelessly infatuated with me, so she would never take a task like this seriously. All this trouble now... is just another setup against Senior Sister.”

As he spoke, his expression was full of disgust, as if even being entangled with Yan Jue made him almost sick. “Please change the plan, Senior Sister. Let me properly discipline her.”

Qi Xianqing’s brows tightened slightly at that.

Why had she been willing to believe Yan Jue, even at the risk of failing the mission?

If Yan Jue was simply talking nonsense again as usual, or if she merely wanted to get back at her, then losing the team leader would also affect the later evaluation.

Qi Xianqing had always been very goal-oriented.

But she did not know what purpose there was in making Yan Jue take the risk this time.

Qi Xianqing thought for a long while and came up with one explanation.

If she went searching herself, the chance of finding the evil being causing trouble was fifty-fifty.

If Yan Jue went out to take the risk, the chance of finding the monkey demon was also only fifty-fifty.

Compared like this, it made no difference who went.

As they spoke, they suddenly saw Yan Jue emerge slowly from the shrine with both hands resting on her abdomen.

The girl’s looks were now plain and unremarkable, yet she still carried an air of extraordinary charm.

With every step she took, she swayed gracefully; with every movement, she seemed to embody soft elegance, a slender willow waist and delicate lightness.

Yan Jue clasped her hands together piously, bowed once more toward the shrine, and then slowly left.

Chu Fu : “If there’s still no sign of interest from that monkey demon on the last day, then we’re in trouble...”

-

Yan Jue got into the carriage and returned to her lodgings not long after.

The place they were staying in Nanxing Town had been found temporarily; it was an old, run-down private residence. An array had been set up outside, so on the surface it looked like the home of a somewhat well-off middle-class family, but ordinary people could not enter.

That was normal. With several young women recently driven to madness one after another, the fact that evil things were stirring in Nanxing Town was no secret; many wealthy households had even hired local cultivators to keep them safe.

As soon as Yan Jue stepped through the door, Chu Fu’s dissatisfied complaints came at once. “There’s only one day left now, Yan Jue. Tell me, what exactly are you planning to do? Honestly, if we’d just let Senior Sister search from the start a few days ago, we wouldn’t be sitting here waiting to die!”

Yan Jue: “...Sorry. Could we ask for an extension?”

Chu Fu : “An extension? Do you think extensions are that easy? This is a mission led by a senior!”

Duan Luxi stepped in to smooth things over from the side. “Yan Jue, you may not know this, but applying for a mission extension is really difficult. Every token is evaluated when it’s sent to the Administrative Hall; to change the deadline is basically questioning the authority of the Administrative Hall. Even for a solo mission, applying for an extension is very difficult.”

Yan Jue froze. Then why had her own extension request last time gone through so easily?

Was it because of Qi Xianqing...

Qi Xianqing sat on the bed, eyes closed in quiet rest, saying nothing.

Yan Jue knew that with every passing moment, everyone’s anxiety grew.

If a mission failed, then for the next half year they would be unable to take on any new tasks, and it would affect everyone.

That day, she had been the one to propose this method. If she ended up causing everyone’s mission to fail, she would have to bear the consequences herself.

Chu Fu : “How about this? I’ve got an idea.”

He turned to look at Qi Xianqing, and his expression instantly softened as he said gently, “Senior Sister, I have a walking cart here. As long as someone sits on it and uses divine sense to control it, it can move on its own. Tomorrow, I’ll have to trouble Senior Sister to go seek out the evil thing again; we’ll all help from the side.”

Yan Jue frowned. For the past few days, she had sincerely been praying to the Monkey God, and as a demon, her sixth sense could feel the demon aura around her growing thicker and thicker.

It felt as though something was watching her.

Only, the monkey demon was naturally cautious and had not yet made a move.

It should be soon.

Yan Jue : “Give me one more day. I’m about to—”

Chu Fu frowned. “One more day? Just how selfish are you, wanting to drag everyone to their deaths just to show off?”

Yan Jue choked and for a moment could not speak.

-

The next day, Yan Jue left very early.

What Chu Fu said was undoubtedly reasonable, and Yan Jue had nothing to say.

If nothing unexpected happened today, it would be exactly as Chu Fu had said yesterday: everyone would split up and search the city for the evil thing.

So when Yan Jue left, she did not call Qi Xianqing and the others.

A cool wind gusted through the streets; the tree branches just beginning to sprout green buds were tossed about in disorder.

The moment Yan Jue stepped outside, she suddenly heard a very soft sound of a door closing behind her.

Yan Jue turned around warily, and could not help freezing in place.

Qi Xianqing was dressed in black today. Her raven-feather-soft long hair was loosely tied back with a white ribbon, and a trim cuff at her sleeve was edged with gold thread.

She walked over slowly. The breeze lifted the hem of her robe, making her skin seem even whiter than snow; she looked a little more imposing than usual.

Qi Xianqing lifted her eyelids slightly and asked in a lazy voice, “Fellow Daoist Yan, why didn’t you call me?”

Yan Jue : “I thought you were with Chu Fu and the others.”

Qi Xianqing didn’t look at her and kept walking forward. “Since it’s already like this, we might as well keep walking into the dark.”

Last night, Qi Xianqing had thought for a long while.

She thought of what Yan Jue had done before.

Yan Jue’s hatred of her back then; the repeated provocations.

Then she thought of Yan Jue’s infatuation with Chu Fu.

And finally, she thought of Yan Jue’s eyes that day at the Jiang residence.

Yan Jue’s gaze that day had been so steady, without the slightest falsehood; it could be said to have dispelled the doubts in Qi Xianqing’s heart.

The Five Dragons Sect lacked such eyes far too much.

And Yan Jue was the kind of person Qi Xianqing regarded as exceedingly rare.

In the end, she decided to believe Yan Jue.

Yan Jue was startled. Once she understood what Qi Xianqing meant, she couldn’t help smiling. “Thank you, Senior Sister.”

Qi Xianqing’s brows and eyes moved slightly. “If you fail this time, then you’ll have to accept a punishment.”

Yan Jue froze. “What punishment?”

Qi Xianqing curved her lips and took a familiar wooden box from her Qiankun bag, tossing it upward.

The moment Yan Jue saw the Capture Shadow Box, the whole of her being went bad. After sending a trace of divine sense into it, she discovered that this vicious woman had not deleted that photo last time at all!!!

Yan Jue was nearly screaming. She lunged for it at once.

With a snap, Qi Xianqing caught the Capture Shadow Box back in her hand. “Fellow Daoist Yan surely doesn’t want that photo published in The Five Dragons Encyclopedia, right? I’ve already thought of the title. How about: ‘Watercloud Sect’s Yan Jue sees her handsome senior brother bathing and bleeds from the nose in torrents.’”

Yan Jue no longer even had the strength to scream. She grabbed tightly onto Qi Xianqing’s sleeve and stared at her weakly.

Only then did she notice that the pristine robe Qi Xianqing had been wearing had been creased by her grip.

Yan Jue : “What if I succeed?”

“Only punishment, no reward; that makes it hard for me to stay motivated.”

Qi Xianqing was silent for a long time before saying, “If you succeed, then Junior Sister may ask me for one thing.”

One thing...?

Yan Jue blinked; Qi Xianqing’s reward could be said to be extremely generous.

One request meant she could make Qi Xianqing do whatever she wanted.

She could make Qi Xianqing squat down and bark like a dog, or swear she would never have anything to do with Chu Fu for the rest of her life.

Thinking of this, Yan Jue suddenly felt energized again.

-

Yan Jue once again went to the Monkey God temple as usual.

Through the hazy incense smoke, she bowed devoutly several times toward the monkey god statue above.

The statue remained utterly motionless.

Yan Jue stood silently in the center of the shrine, watching the candle shadows sway around her and cast her own silhouette onto the wall.

“..."

Today, still not coming?

Yan Jue left the Monkey God shrine and looked up at the sky.

Dark clouds had gathered thickly; a heavy mass of demonic aura spread all around, impossible to ignore even if one wanted to.

A cold wind blew in gusts, scattering leaves everywhere.

Yan Jue walked forward a few steps and felt terrible all over.

The disguise technique had been reinforced by Qi Xianqing, and to make her performance more convincing, she had even borrowed a ball of spiritual energy from Qi Xianqing to take into her abdomen.

This ball of spiritual energy could last for about five days, serving as an unborn fetal breath so she would really seem like a young woman carrying a child.

But this spiritual energy belonged to Qi Xianqing. Her ironclad sword bones and upright righteousness made Yan Jue feel terribly uncomfortable.

The spiritual energy surged through her body in wild, chaotic currents; every cell in her body was clamoring at all times to merge with it, sending signals of pleasure with every pulse.

That Qi Xianqing could withstand the pressure and trust her—Yan Jue could not even say what she felt in her heart.

She knew Qi Xianqing was watching her from the shadows. Success or failure would be decided today.

Yan Jue also noticed the thickening dark clouds overhead. As a fox demon, her perception of such things was especially sharp. She arrived by the bridge on the outskirts of the city, and just as she was about to lose her footing, she suddenly knelt down; beads of sweat the size of soybeans slid down her cheeks.

Suddenly, a fierce wind rose. Yan Jue widened her eyes and saw that under the banyan tree over there, she did not know when a handsome and elegant man had appeared, wearing wide robes and broad sleeves, holding a folding fan in his hand as he walked slowly toward her.

“Are you all right, miss? I just saw you... fall?” The man extended one hand and gently lifted her chin.

A strong demonic aura hit her face at once. Yan Jue felt her body heat up; meeting that handsome face, she suddenly felt a surge of wild delight, and her whole body began to tremble faintly with excitement.

The man wore a smiling expression, and when his fingers touched her wrist, he used a little force.

Yan Jue felt as though something in her body had been violently drained away; her body went soft, and she collapsed into that man’s arms.

She felt herself picked up gently, then carried away in a leap. The wind howled past her ears, but even with her eyes open she could not make out the scene around her.

Her heartbeat accelerated to an impossible degree. The wild wind slapped her face, making even her breathing feel difficult. The smell coming from this man seemed very wrong; it was more like a stinking, rank odor!

Yan Jue was so nauseated she nearly vomited. Her heart thudded wildly. What if her yin essence was sucked dry and she just died like that? Her mind raced with random thoughts when the wind in her ears suddenly stopped.

She was gently placed on the bed.

A sliver of light suddenly appeared before her eyes, and through the blur Yan Jue heard the man’s low laughter.

She snapped her eyes open and found that the man, who only moments ago had looked as handsome as jade, had somehow turned into... a huge monkey!!!

Its face was flushed red, covered in dark yellow fur. Opening its mouth, it lowered its head to sniff her face lightly; when it opened its mouth, a row of sharp, overlapping teeth showed, and the teeth rubbed together with a grating click.

This little slut... her yin essence was very pure, and very fragrant...

The yin essence surged and roiled in her body, yet it was like a... Pure Yin Physique, rare in the world!

If he drained all the yin essence in this body, what a tonic it would be—tsk, tsk, tsk.

He drew out women’s yin essence and knew it would leave them stupid and useless; he also knew that once a woman lost all her yin essence, she would die on the spot!

But mortals were nothing more than lowly ants. So what if they were sucked dry and died?

Hahahahaha.

Yan Jue opened her eyes and looked at him calmly, forcibly suppressing the chills crawling up her spine.

Because she was a fox demon, she could clearly see the appearance of her own kind. Perhaps in the eyes of other girls, this monkey was a handsome man; in her eyes, though, it was a monster with a monkey’s head and a human body.

Yan Jue stared at that hideously ugly face and smiled. “Lang... take it slowly. My stomach...”

The monkey demon laughed once. Its large hand gently stroked her belly. “To tell the truth, miss, this little god is the Thousand-Eyed Macaque. I learned your intentions in the shrine the day before yesterday. If you and I couple today, you’ll get your wish.”

“Your husband’s favor; bearing a son. Isn’t that the young lady’s wish?”

Yan Jue narrowed her eyes. Deep within her amber-colored pupils, a faint golden light flashed at some unknown point.

Perhaps because compared with those official ladies, she had no family backing and had collapsed from exhaustion in the wilderness on the outskirts, the monkey demon could brazenly carry her into its den.

Drain her yin essence, then cast her aside like discarded shoes.

Clean and neat.

Yan Jue’s voice grew fervent. “Lang... then I’m willing...”

The monkey demon roughly tore open her clothes, revealing the white inner garment beneath. Its fur-covered hands fumbled and groped at her shoulders when, all of a sudden, its movements froze hard.

The next second, something hard and cold stabbed viciously into its abdomen, and blood splattered everywhere in an instant!!!

“ROAR!!!” The monkey demon leaped off her at once, flipping through the air dozens of times before landing at the very edge of the cave.

“There’s poison on that hidden weapon.” The monkey demon clutched its abdomen tightly, looking up at her in disbelief. “Who are you?!”

“Five Dragons Mountain disciple, Yan Jue.” Yan Jue stood up, her hem snapping in the wind. “You absorb the yin essence of the women of Nanxing Town; do you plead guilty?”

The monkey demon stared for a moment, then burst out laughing. “Five Dragons Mountain? Five Dragons Mountain? Has Five Dragons Mountain run out of people? They actually sent a little thing like you, a Pure Yin Physique, to catch me. Do you really think you can catch me?”

Yan Jue looked at it, her expression growing colder and colder, but said nothing.

The monkey demon sprang onto the table and stared at her brazenly, not a trace of fear in its eyes. “Plead guilty? Do you know it’s those women themselves who ran to the temple begging me? I can help them fulfill their wishes; what’s wrong with taking a little compensation?” It suddenly leaped upward.

The monkey demon roared, and in the blink of an eye it was in front of Yan Jue. A surging mass of yang energy rolled over, the stench so foul it nearly made Yan Jue vomit. Its two claws bent into hooks and struck at her.

Yan Jue flashed aside and flicked her sleeve. Three sharp sleeve arrows shot out again, striking the monkey demon’s arm directly.

When Yan Jue bought the sleeve arrows, the shopkeeper had told her that runes were engraved on all of them.

Those runes would trigger randomly after the arrows were fired.

With a smack, one sleeve arrow struck the back of the monkey demon’s hand.

The monkey demon felt a burning pain at the spot hit by the arrow and cried out miserably. Red light that shimmered with a fluorescent glow spread over the pierced area, like flames.

With a whoosh, Yan Jue flung out another sleeve arrow while simultaneously activating the “Ice Summoning Art” she had practiced for a long time. The air in front of her rapidly congealed, turning into numerous tiny ice spikes.

With a soft cry, Yan Jue sent the ice spikes shooting out like arrows released from a bow.

The monkey demon sneered; its body in midair rapidly turned into several golden afterimages, easily avoiding Yan Jue’s attacks.

Yan Jue: “..."

She had already expected this. The Thousand-Eyed Macaque Demon had absorbed women’s yin essence year-round, so its cultivation had to be above hers; it was only natural that it could dodge her attacks.

The monkey demon let out a loud bellow, and in an instant fierce winds rose. Yan Jue’s black hair was whipped wildly by the wind.

In almost the blink of an eye, Yan Jue was hurled away and slammed hard to the ground. She felt herself suppressed by an extremely powerful demonic force; her entire body could not move at all.

The monkey demon raised a hand and summoned an iron staff from somewhere unknown, then leaped up and swung it down toward Yan Jue.

The staff crashed down with overwhelming force; if it hit today, wouldn’t this little slut’s brains burst open? After she died, it could drink her brain matter and also absorb the remaining yin essence; what bliss that would be~

A vicious smile appeared on the monkey demon’s face when it suddenly saw the girl beneath it looking up at him, a trace of a smile appearing in those narrow phoenix eyes.

The two of them exchanged a smile.

? No! The monkey demon was horrified. That little slut wasn’t smiling at it!

The next second, a huge wave of pain surged up from its back, as if something had brutally pierced straight through its chest!

Electricity spread through its entire body along the wound.

The monkey demon desperately tried to turn around, only to find that its body could not move. Then it let out a scream like a slaughtered pig.

In that instant, a flash of blue light passed by; the monkey demon, whose face had been ferocious just moments before, suddenly widened its eyes. It staggered forward a few steps, then crashed hard to the ground.