Second Senior Sister Has A Highly Dangerous Profession - Chapter 49
Chapter 49
Qianya Peak.
In the twilight snow among the thousand mountains, a young man in thin white clothes gently lowered his head and coughed lightly.
His skin was cold and pale, yet it didn’t seem like he was frozen.
He sat in a quiet room. In front of him was a set of frozen flower teaware, priceless and rare. Each tiny frozen flower cup contained flowers of different colors, and upon closer inspection, they were exactly the kind that the Kunwu disciples would pin to the edges of their robes.
At this moment, these colorful flowers were frozen in the small teacups.
When hot, clear tea was poured into them, the flower colors subtly changed, creating a very pleasing sight.
The tea was no ordinary tea; it was Panhua tea, from the Panhua tea forest, which only produced three pounds per year.
The water was the purest snow melted from the mountaintop at the back of Qianya Peak. With such tea leaves and water, the brewed tea naturally filled the entire room with a fresh fragrance.
Yet, the young man, bored out of his mind, was using this tea to wash the cups.
After a while, he suddenly sneered.
“Can a person turn into a demon? Who is this supposed to remind?”
He repeated a question asked from a thousand miles away, moved his legs, and nudged Ju Er, who was warming himself by his feet: “Can you turn into a human?”
Ju Er’s tail wagged erratically.
It looked up at the young man, its eyes full of helplessness, as if looking at a lunatic who had asked the most idiotic question.
Xie Junzhi was obviously annoyed by this look and snorted coldly, then poured a bit of tea onto Ju Er’s tail.
The temperature was too low, so the tea had long since lost its heat.
However, cats dislike water.
As soon as the water droplets touched Ju Er’s tail, he jumped up as if his fur had exploded, hissing at Xie Junzhi, clearly very dissatisfied with his mean-spirited act.
“Come to think of it, you haven’t had cat food for several days now.”
Xie Junzhi ignored Ju Er’s anger, casually withdrew his hand, and continued to pour tea into his cup.
He glanced at Xiao Zhizhi, who was sprawled out, sound asleep in his lap: “I’m starting to crave snake soup. What does it matter if it’s a snake or a snake demon? The taste is what matters most.”
Although Ju Er’s eyes still held anger, it couldn’t help but lick its lips, then shake its whiskers.
It lifted its paw, brought its slightly wet tail closer, and began to earnestly lick it.
…
In this world, there are myriad living beings.
The mountains, rivers, and plants have spirits, and so do humans, demons, and animals.
Spirit is both spiritual energy and intelligence.
But mountains and rivers cannot become humans, animals cannot become plants, and demons must disguise themselves to blend into the human world. Yet, despite the disguise, their essence remains unchanged. So how could a human possibly…turn into a demon?
If the demon-detecting talisman turns half black and half white, it indicates a demonized human—just like the Jealousy Demon that Yu Xizhi had encountered before.
These demonized humans were transformed after being parasitized by demons, but their essence remained human.
When have there ever been cases where one became a pure demon?
Xuanyuan Heng pursed his lips in silence for a long while before taking out several more demon-detecting talismans.
No matter whether one was human or demon, the cultivation level of the young man who had been unjustly accused was not exceptionally high, certainly not beyond the range that Xuanyuan Heng’s demon-detecting talismans could identify.
However, after using more than ten demon-detecting talismans, each one without exception turned into charred ashes.
Xuanyuan Heng was slightly stunned; after all, this defied his usual understanding.
He was about to try again out of habit when something bumped into his foot.
Looking down, he saw the ground was littered with demon cores.
―Just a moment ago, Yu Xizhi had thrown the whole pot of demon cores onto the ground in desperation. Now, realizing that dealing with Huang Shunyu was beyond what they could settle with mere words, she simply turned around and called out for everyone to help pick up the demon cores.
Xuanyuan Heng lowered his gaze, picked up a demon core from near his foot, and rubbed it in his hand. He thought to himself that holding a demon core felt surprisingly nurturing, although he hadn’t been injured or exerted much effort, so the sensation wasn’t particularly strong.
He rolled the demon core between his fingers, musing that it was not much different from a marble.
Then he suddenly remembered a story he had once read in a collection of strange tales.
“To determine if he is truly a demon… there might be another way,” Xuanyuan Heng suddenly said.
Yu Xizhi, who had thrown the pot over Huang Shunyu, was in no hurry to retrieve it and face that scarred face again. She had casually piled the collected demon cores in a corner.
Hearing Xuanyuan Heng, she turned her head and asked, “Senior brother Heng, isn’t your demon-detecting talisman working?”
“It’s not that it doesn’t work…” Xuanyuan Heng took a deep breath, but the scent of the demon cores made him wrinkle his nose: “I just really want to know why this is happening.”
As he spoke, Meng Xizhou returned: “I asked around. What Huang Shunyu said about his family is true. He was in the crowd before and only approached us when he saw us. The whole village knows he is a cultivator in the Kunwu Sect; even if he’s just an outer disciple, he’s always been the hope and pride of the old Huang family.”
Xuanyuan Heng paused for a moment before continuing: “If he was Huang Shunyu from the beginning, then why did he turn into a demon? If the one who returned to Tianjiu Town from the Kunwu Sect was already a demon, then how does he know Huang Shunyu’s life story?”
These questions had not escaped the others either.
Yu Si wanted to take Huang Shunyu back to the sect and see what the elders and peak masters thought, as they had encountered few demons and weren’t sure how to deal with this situation.
“All the demons we’ve slain so far have had distinct demonic features,” Yu Si understood Xuanyuan Heng’s point.
“But if demons can now disguise themselves as humans and even suppress their nature for so long…”
He didn’t finish his sentence, but everyone understood what he meant.
Although they hadn’t seen it themselves, the knowledge they had learned about the demon race, including the “Ten Thousand Demon Compendium,” clearly stated that both minor and major demon lords, as well as demon emperor, could take on human forms. Even if they mingled among humans, it would be extremely difficult to detect them unless they actively revealed themselves.
But setting aside the demon emperor, even a minor demon lord would have the equivalent strength of a Nascent Soul stage human cultivator.
How could they possibly contend with such a being?
If Huang Shunyu really were a demon of this level, even if he was currently unconscious after being knocked out by a pot and his life or death was uncertain, what if there were other demons of the same level?
How would the cultivation world deal with that?
Yu Xizhi was silent for a moment, thinking that in the original story, demon lords of this level only appeared when the protagonist, Cheng Luocen, was subduing the world. As the Long Aotian protagonist, it was inevitable for him to battle enemies far above his level.
The minor demon lords were at the Nascent Soul stage, and while Cheng Luocen’s battles against stronger foes couldn’t be too far-fetched, he should have started fighting them around the Nascent Soul stage.
At this moment, however, Cheng Luocen had just reached the complete stage of the Qi Refining realm, still one step away from Foundation Establishment, let alone Nascent Soul.
Even according to the original timeline, it was impossible for him to suddenly jump to Nascent Soul now.
But of course, these thoughts couldn’t be spoken out loud.
Yu Xizhi slightly furrowed her brows and asked, “Senior brother Heng, you mentioned another way to verify this. Are you referring to…?”
Xuanyuan Heng tossed the bead in his hand and said, “Throw the demon core to him.”
“Demons can increase their power by consuming demon cores, but demonized humans cannot. I used spiritual sense, and I believe he’s still alive, so… I want to try.”
Yu Xizhi slowly stood up and walked to Xuanyuan Heng’s side.
She pulled out a handful of thunder talismans from her storage pouch with one hand, and with the other hand, she rested it on her sword, nodding, “Alright.”
Xuanyuan Heng silently observed her for a moment, his emotions difficult to express.
The young man wanted to say something but felt that anything he said would be unnecessary, so he simply reached out and tossed the demon core he had picked up.
The demon core rolled across the ground, and everyone held their breath as they watched, quietly placing their hands on their sword hilts.
The smooth, round bead hit the pot with a “clang,” bounced back slightly, and after a few repetitions, finally came to a stop along the edge of the pot.
Yet, nothing happened.
Killing intent hung in the air, but the target of that intent was completely lifeless, as if truly dead.
No one dared to let their guard down, and after waiting quietly for a while, they used spiritual sense to check.
They saw that the demonic energy around Huang Shunyu was gradually dissipating.
Gritting his teeth, Yu Si removed the barrier and quickly opened the largest demon-capturing bag, skillfully trapping Huang Shunyu inside.
His movements were so smooth that even Yu Xizhi, who was standing close, couldn’t see how Huang Shunyu’s face had changed.
Once inside the demon-capturing bag, even a minor demon lord wouldn’t be able to escape.
Everyone watched as Yu Si tied the bag, then slowly let out a breath and removed their hands from their sword hilts.
Only then did Yu Xizhi pick up the dark, grimy pot.
When she had thrown the pot earlier, she hadn’t paid much attention, and the pot had landed upside down, trapping Huang Shunyu inside.
Now, after flipping it over, she found that the little black snake inside was still there.
Perhaps because it hadn’t been stewed for so long, the black snake had become a bit complacent and was no longer lying there in despair but instead was slithering around aimlessly.
When Yu Xizhi suddenly looked inside, the little black snake hesitated between fear and trying to curry favor.
It seemed to decide that the latter was the safer option and slightly lifted its head.
When it was large, the snake had been terrifying and ferocious, but in this smaller size, it was almost endearingly clumsy.
Unfortunately, at this moment, Yu Xizhi found herself feeling a little physiological disgust towards any creature of this shape.
She casually threw a cloth over the pot, wrapped it up, and carried it away.
With this, the matter in Tianjiu Town was finally resolved.
After some discussion, the group decided to stay and rest for a day, allowing those with more severe injuries to recover before returning to their respective sects.
Yu Xizhi casually placed the pot on Yu Si’s table, mentioning that there was a snake inside and that she wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if it stayed with her.
Then she exchanged a knowing glance with Tan Mingtang.
On a dark, windy night, Tianjiu Town, which was the closest settlement to the desolate Kongti Desert near Yuebei City, was quiet.
It was winter, close to the end of the year, and many shops had already closed early to prepare for the New Year.
At this late hour, the streets were even more silent.
Two figures moved soundlessly through the night, their footsteps so light that they cast no shadows in the faint light.
“Senior sister, are you sure this is the right direction?” Yu Xizhi’s voice came from beneath a black hood.
“You may not know this, but while Tianjiu Town is remote, its black market is quite famous,” Tan Mingtang’s voice came from under another hood.
“This isn’t my first time in this black market. Don’t be too surprised; it’s different from the one you visited last time.”
As she spoke, she led Yu Xizhi down a narrow alley with practiced ease.
Sure enough, not far ahead, lanterns lit up the winter night, casting a cold white light.
As they got closer, the familiar sounds of a gambling den and dice rolling reached their ears, and a smiling attendant came forward to greet them, “Are the two of you here to dine or to stay?”
