Chapter 55

In the sleeping chamber, the night pearls glowed faintly.

Liu Shuang said, “Mountain Lord, I mean no offense, but I am merely passing through your esteemed territory. I kindly request your convenience and am willing to exchange treasures for it.”

She paused, then added, “Or, if the Mountain Lord has a condition, I will strive to fulfill it.”

This speech was something she had prepared before coming here, and it didn’t change just because the person before her was Yan Chaosheng.

Yet, precisely because it was Yan Chaosheng, Liu Shuang felt awkward.

She thought that the Demon Lord’s mind must be somewhat flawed.

In her past life, she had loved him to the point of madness, but he never showed any affection in return.

Instead, he treated her with coldness and disdain.

Oh, and he had a nasty habit of enjoying watching her cry.

But in this life, she hadn’t even been kind to him.

In fact, she had initially wanted to kill him, yet he inexplicably fell for her.

This kind of “snake demon illness” trait of the Demon Lord was rare in the world.

If it weren’t for the fact that the Kongsang spiritual vein was on the verge of depletion, Liu Shuang wouldn’t have minded offering herself as bait to placate this future Demon Lord.

Making him happy wouldn’t be a big deal.

She wanted Kongsang to be safe and sound.

As long as Kongsang was safe, she didn’t care about anything else.

Right now, she didn’t have time for him.

His matters would have to wait, taking second priority.

The first priority was the spiritual vein beneath the Weak Water.

At this moment, Yan Chaosheng hadn’t yet responded to her words.

A female demon by his side moved, peeling a purple grape from the jade plate and offering it to Yan Chaosheng’s lips in a coquettish voice.

“Mountain Lord, please don’t be angry over an insignificant person. Let me feed you this grape,” said the female demon named Nian Yi, who was quite cunning.

Nian Yi’s shoulders were partially exposed, and her eyes were filled with tenderness.

Liu Shuang couldn’t understand what he was trying to do and decided to observe quietly.

If he had “shifted his affections” and developed a taste for butterfly demons or others like these… that would be fine too.

Once she found the spiritual vein, she could send him a bunch of them.

Wouldn’t that make it easier to establish good relations?

Having figured this out, she simply watched them, taking note of Yan Chaosheng’s current “new” preferences, wondering if there was still hope.

As the grape reached his lips, Yan Chaosheng stiffened and instinctively glanced at Liu Shuang’s reaction.

She stood not far away, with several demon guards watching over her.

Her gaze swept over the three female demons before returning to him, deep in thought.

She wasn’t angry, nor was she jealous.

This made his already struggling heart grow even colder.

Were all her past kindnesses towards him… fake?

She didn’t care about him being with Mi Chu, nor did she care about him being intimate with others.

He numbly ate the grape, the bitterness spreading to the depths of his heart, leaving a sour taste in his mouth.

If she had shown even a hint of annoyance or displeasure, the lingering hope in his heart would have reignited, and he could have overlooked everything Chishui Chong had done to him.

He could have even overlooked the fact that her naivety had once caused him to lose his cultivation.

He still couldn’t accept it; it couldn’t all be fake.

If she truly had no feelings for him, there was no need for her to be kind to him, to warm him, or to save his life.

So, under Liu Shuang’s gaze, he continued, lifting Nian Yi’s chin.

Nian Yi’s heart leapt with joy.

She was more cunning and bolder than the other two female demons.

Ever since entering this palace, she had been pondering the Mountain Lord’s preferences.

When no one was around, the Mountain Lord would chase them away.

But now, with a crowd watching, the Mountain Lord didn’t reject her intimacy.

Many powerful demons had hidden quirks.

Could it be, Nian Yi thought, that this handsome new Mountain Lord enjoyed public displays of affection?

Nian Yi naturally didn’t mind.

Demons were generally unrestrained, and she was among the most audacious.

As Yan Chaosheng lifted her chin, her gaze grew even softer and more seductive, waiting for him to lean in.

When Yan Chaosheng faced Nian Yi, he realized that putting on an act wasn’t easy.

At the very least, he couldn’t bring himself to kiss her without hesitation.

He turned to look at Liu Shuang.

She was also watching them, her demeanor so calm that it seemed she was about to pull out a brush and paper to record everything.

His heart grew completely cold.

At this moment, he finally confirmed that his feelings weren’t mistaken.

If she were with another man, he would hate that person so much that he would want to kill him.

That was how he felt about Jimo Shaoyou.

Just hearing her call Jimo Shaoyou’s name in her sleep had filled him with jealousy.

Yet, despite his actions, Liu Shuang showed no reaction.

Tonight, there was no moonlight in the demon palace, but under the soft glow of the night pearls, she remained pure and beautiful.

The night pearls cast a faint halo over her clothes.

As an immortal of ancient bloodline, she was still an immortal, even in the demon palace.

Her aura remained pristine.

Yan Chaosheng waved his sleeve, pushing the female demon away, and closed his eyes.

“All of you, get out.”

His demonic energy surged, filling the palace with a visible purple mist.

The female demons didn’t dare to speak, scrambling to leave in a panic.

Even Nian Yi, sensing the Mountain Lord’s foul mood, didn’t dare to entertain any other thoughts and quickly left.

Fuheng silently bowed and led his subordinates away.

Liu Shuang, after all, didn’t have a habit of watching others’ intimate moments, so she didn’t see Yan Chaosheng push the female demon away. She only heard his angry voice.

She hesitated for a moment, unsure if the command to “get out” included her.

Just as she was about to follow Fuheng out, her waist was seized, and she was pressed down onto a chair.

The chair was large, made of cold jade, and emitted a soft glow.

Yan Chaosheng’s actions were rough and fierce.

If Liu Shuang had been an ordinary mortal woman, her back would have been bruised by now.

Fortunately, she was an immortal and didn’t feel much pain.

But his actions were truly rude.

“Yan Chaosheng!”

She looked up and realized something was wrong with Yan Chaosheng.

The corners of his eyes were red, and his demonic energy was so dense that it was almost uncontrollable.

If she hadn’t witnessed his transformation herself, she might have thought some terrifying demon was about to emerge.

He was trembling slightly, his body as cold as ice, while a certain part of him was as hard as iron, increasingly overlapping with her memories.

Liu Shuang stiffened, knowing exactly what state he was in.

Meeting his gaze, she said, “Let me go.”

Yan Chaosheng didn’t move.

He was like a man whose beliefs had shattered, his face ashen, having burned himself out, dragging others into hell in his despair.

Unfortunately, that person was Liu Shuang.

The cold jade chair was wide.

He pinned her beneath him.

The girl hadn’t concealed her true appearance.

A blue feather flower adorned her forehead, a natural mark of her unparalleled beauty.

“Didn’t you say that if I set a condition, you would strive to fulfill it?”

Yan Chaosheng’s fingers tightened, almost embedding her slender wrists into his palm.

He no longer hid his intentions.

“Since you already know, Chishui Liushuang, I want you to stay by my side. Can you do that?”

His body pressed closer to hers.

Liu Shuang’s pupils slightly dilated, but she remained silent.

Her fingers glowed with a blue-green light as she struck his shoulder.

Yan Chaosheng, who had no defenses against her, grunted and fell off the cold jade chair.

Liu Shuang was surprised.

The spell she used was ordinary, and with the Clear Essence Jade he had absorbed, he should have been able to dodge it.

Unless he hadn’t been guarding against her at all.

Liu Shuang sat up on the chair.

The chair was large, and though she was slender, with Yan Chaosheng now on the floor, he had to look up at her.

Liu Shuang thought for a moment and said, “Not now. I’m in a hurry to get to the Weak Water. Please, grant me this convenience.”

Yan Chaosheng clutched his shoulder and looked up.

Blood seeped through his fingers, and his eyes clearly reflected her image.

She showed no panic.

Even after his declaration, she wasn’t angered.

Yan Chaosheng looked up at her, feeling an urge to laugh.

So not only did she not like him, she also didn’t care about him at all.

In her eyes, he was probably no different from an object.

He knelt by the chair, looking up at her, much like the female demons who had looked up at him earlier.

But now, their positions were reversed, and he was the one looking up at her.

As he gazed at her, his demonic aura shrouded his face, his shoulder still bleeding, and his true form’s pain becoming almost unbearable.

The girl sat on his chair, looking at him with suspicion, as if he were a madman.

His demonic body was boiling, and the purple aura was about to spill out of the room. Yan Chaosheng stood up, his tone icy. “If you’re unwilling, then leave. The demon palace has no welcome for a pure and pristine immortal.”

With that, he no longer looked at her and stepped into the cold pool, letting the icy water freeze his demonic form.

He thought he would hate her, but he didn’t.

He knew what the Weak Water was like—a place where even cold iron would melt into nothing.

He couldn’t let her go there.

Even after all this, even though Liu Shuang had never loved him, he still didn’t want her to die.

Liu Shuang stayed in the demon palace for the time being, though not in Yan Chaosheng’s chambers.

The demon mountain was in a state of disrepair, and there were plenty of places to stay.

She found a clean chamber and would often knock on Yan Chaosheng’s door, asking him to open the barrier and let her through.

Most of the time, Yan Chaosheng submerged himself in the cold pool.

On rare occasions, he would come ashore.

But even when he did, he never saw her.

Sometimes, he would let the butterfly demon, Cong Xia, enter, but not her.

It was as if she were some venomous snake that might bite him.

Liu Shuang began to wonder if she had been mistaken about the meaning behind the female demon’s words in the Demon Suppression Tower.

If Yan Chaosheng truly liked her, why would he avoid her while being intimate with others?

Liu Shuang couldn’t wait any longer.

She had already informed Yan Chaosheng, but since he refused to see her, and Kongsang was in urgent need, she couldn’t just stay on this demon mountain and retire.

Liu Shuang decided to break the barrier herself.

The nine Ten Commandment Rings flew up and tried to bind her.

After absorbing the divine artifact, her progress had been rapid, and she barely managed to dodge, jumping out of the way.

Just then, Yan Chaosheng, who had been absent, suddenly appeared behind her.

His face was dark.

He immediately took action.

The Ten Commandment Rings were far more powerful in his hands than in the barrier.

In no time, she was tightly bound.

“Do you think I’m dead?”

Liu Shuang argued, “I requested an audience many times. It was you who refused to see me.”

“Take her away and lock her up!” Yan Chaosheng said coldly.

“If she tries to break the barrier again, kill…”

He didn’t finish the sentence, stopping short of saying “kill without mercy.”

Instead, he said, “Keep a close eye on her. Don’t let her near the barrier.”

Lao He, who had appeared out of nowhere, grinned maliciously, eager to take charge of Liu Shuang.

He had been waiting for this chance to get revenge for a long time, but the Mountain Lord had never given him the opportunity.

Now, he finally had his chance.

But Yan Chaosheng said, “Fuheng, you take charge of her.”

Fuheng obeyed, “Yes.”

With that, Yan Chaosheng left.

Liu Shuang stared at his retreating figure.

He was still damp from the cold pool, clearly having rushed over.

He didn’t want to see her, yet when she tried to break the barrier, he appeared faster than a ghost.

It was just her luck that she had given him the Clear Essence Jade, and now the Ten Commandment Rings were in his hands.

She couldn’t help but feel that she had brought this upon herself.

Fuheng locked her in a palace chamber.

With the Ten Commandment Rings binding her, they didn’t think she could escape, so the guard wasn’t very strict.

Liu Shuang had been knocking on Yan Chaosheng’s door for the past few days and had figured out the times he would enter the cold pool.

She calculated the timing and, shortly after he submerged, a faint smile appeared on her lips.

With a soft click, the Ten Commandment Rings unlocked.

This time, Yan Chaosheng wouldn’t be able to come after her—unless he truly had a death wish.