Slacker Second Gen C70

Chapter 70: Demon Lord (15)

On the way to the Demon Lord’s bedchamber, Liusha carefully reminded Qian,

“Young Master, if the Demon Lord asks about the Gu in your body, don’t say anything about them having company.”

“……”

“You and the Demon Lord are father and daughter, after all. The Demon Lord actually cares about you deeply.”

Previously, Liusha had always believed that the young master might eventually be devoured by the Demon Lord. But now, she no longer thought so.

To be taken into seclusion by the Demon Lord and still come out alive, to mess with his hair and not get beaten to death, and even to receive the most precious inner core of a Heavenly Demon from him… Liusha could hardly believe this was the same Demon Lord she had revered and feared for so many years.

Though he rarely showed warmth toward his offspring, he was already much more lenient with her than with anyone else.

“If the young master were to take the initiative to get closer to him, perhaps their relationship could improve.”

The Demon Lord probably didn’t know how to bond with his child, so the only hope lay in the young master.

“I don’t want to be close to him. He’s not good at all,” Qian pouted.

“He locked me in a stinky place and wouldn’t give me food. I don’t want to be close to him,” she emphasized.

Liusha had noticed her little tantrum and wanted to persuade her, but she hadn’t expected that this seemingly obedient and sensible child could be so stubborn when unwilling.

Even after they reached the entrance of the bedchamber, Qian still refused to change her mind, crossing her little arms in defiance.

Liusha stood outside the chamber and requested permission to enter.

The grand doors swung open abruptly, revealing the dim interior.

“Let her in.”

Liusha found the Demon Lord’s voice a little strange but dared not ask questions. She lowered her head and gave Qian a slight push on the shoulder, signaling her to go inside.

At that moment, Qian suddenly recalled the pranks she had pulled while the Demon Lord was in seclusion and started feeling nervous.

Like any child guilty of mischief, she instinctively wanted to evade the impending reckoning and tried to hide behind Liusha.

But there was no escape. Her father’s presence was too oppressive. Despite her reluctance, she was pushed into the dark chamber.

Qian stood at the entrance, hands behind her back, fidgeting with her fingers, shuffling her feet against the ground, refusing to take another step forward.

“What are you standing there for? Come here.”

“…No,” the child whispered.

The Demon Lord seemed irritated but restrained his temper and asked instead, “What did the healer say?”

Qian grumbled, “Said that the bugs have a companion now, so they can play together.”

The Demon Lord fell silent.

Forget it. He had known that healer was unreliable—never able to cure anything properly.

“Never mind. Come here.”

Qian’s ears perked up in alert. After some frantic mental calculations, she quickly declared, “You can’t hit me! I’m sick right now!”

The Demon Lord suddenly recalled the incident during his seclusion. His tone turned dangerous.

“That’s right, I just remembered—I haven’t punished you yet.”

Qian turned to grab the door handle and yanked at it twice, but it didn’t budge. Hearing footsteps approaching from the bed, she immediately dashed to the side, looking for a place to hide so that her wicked father wouldn’t catch her.

Just as she was about to squeeze into a gap between the cabinets, a hand grabbed the back of her collar and dragged her out.

The Demon Lord said irritably, “You had the guts to be naughty before, but now you’re afraid?”

Qian flailed her limbs in resistance but suddenly realized something was off and fell silent.

Her round, gleaming black eyes widened in shock as she turned to look at the person behind her.

A child about her size, about her height.

They looked almost identical—only their demeanor differed.

Qian had a healthy, chubby roundness to her, with soft, plump cheeks that added to her cuteness.

But this other child was pale—a cold, piercing kind of pallor. Though not malnourished by typical standards, compared to Qian, he seemed oddly underfed.

A child her age, looking exactly like her, and speaking to her in her wicked father’s tone!

Qian leaned in to scrutinize Huai You Nong’s face, then reached out to touch it.

Huai You Nong’s expression darkened, and he smacked her hand away with a slap.

“Show some respect.” He turned and walked toward the bed. “Come here and tell me exactly what that healer said.”

Qian obediently followed, but her actions were anything but.

As she walked beside Huai You Nong, she constantly tried to grab his hair, and she even attempted to lift his wide outer robe to peek inside, earning two sharp glares from him.

Huai You Nong sat on the bed, acting all high and mighty, his face cold. “Speak.”

But with his current small form, his feet didn’t even touch the floor, making him look nothing but adorable.

Qian wasn’t listening to him at all. She crawled onto the bed and started rummaging through the pile of blankets.

Huai You Nong: “What are you looking for?!”

Qian turned her head. “Where’s my wicked dad?”

Huai You Nong: “I’m right here!”

Qian stared at him for a long moment, then shook her head.

Huai You Nong’s temper flared instantly.

He recalled waking up from seclusion in that ridiculous state, his brows twitching. “The mess you made—scribbling all over me.”

Since no one had dared to tell him, and his twin tails had come undone in the pool, the Demon Lord still didn’t know what hairstyle he had sported while facing the enemy on the battlefield.

“This won’t do. I have to punish you.” Huai You Nong said as he watched the child leaning over the bed, still searching underneath for her father.

The now utterly non-intimidating Demon Lord: “……”

Suddenly, he grabbed her arm and bit down.

Qian hadn’t expected this at all. The moment she registered what was happening, she lunged forward and bit Huai You Nong’s arm in return.

With their limbs being about the same length, the two of them went back and forth, evenly matched, pecking at each other like two squabbling chicks. Their little fight escalated from arms to faces—until Qian changed tactics with a sudden, inspired move.

She flipped over, climbed up, and slapped Huai You Nong’s butt.

Then, imitating an adult scolding a child, she sternly declared, “No biting! Only dogs bite!”

Huai You Nong’s body stiffened as he stared at her. His hand, filled with dangerous demonic energy, was raised and lowered repeatedly, struggling for a long time over whether to slap this rebellious child to death.

Right now, Huai You Nong was unable to use most of his power, and he couldn’t actually kill her out of a moment’s anger. On top of that, his current form was limiting him, leaving him at a loss for what to do with her.

In the end, he could only sit expressionlessly with a bite mark on his face.

Qian, on the other hand, was surprisingly well-behaved towards him in his current state. Even though they had just fought, she still climbed up next to him, sitting down with enthusiasm and continuing to chat with him.

“You’re younger than me, right? Then you have to call me big sister. Are you my little sister or little brother?”

“…I’m your father.”

“From now on, you’ll call me big sister,” Qian unilaterally declared.

“…”

“If you call me big sister, I’ll give you tasty food and take you to play,” she said with a coaxing expression.

Huai You Nong was utterly speechless. He was suffering from the backlash of the Demonic Sacrificial Codex, not mentally regressed to a child’s level!

“I’m called Qian, so how about you be Wan? You can also choose Bai if you like,” Qian suggested earnestly.

Listening to the child’s nonsense, Huai You Nong began reconsidering his recent decision.

The people in the Demon Palace were temporarily intimidated by him, but he wasn’t sure if others would still come to test him. Neither he nor Qian could afford a third round of this kind of probing.

So, he decided to inform the Guardians that he would continue his closed-door cultivation, then secretly take Qian away from the Demon Palace to hide in another place for the time being.

Additionally, he needed to seek someone’s help—if it was him, there might be a way to deal with the troublesome gu parasite in Qian’s body.

But this little brat was truly annoying!

After sulking for a while, Huai You Nong pursed his lips and looked at the child squatting beside him, observing him.

She seemed inexplicably excited, and her little eyes didn’t look like they were thinking of anything good.

Qian leaned over to him. “Do you want to go out? You can pretend to be me and go find Liusha to play, or you can go to Han Qiu’s lessons!”

As she spoke, she ran to a cabinet, pulled out a mask, and pressed it onto his face.

“You can also wear this mask—no one will recognize you!”

Huai You Nong pinched the mask. “Where did this come from? And why is it in my place?”

“Luo Ye gave it to me. I hid it over there. I’ve hidden a lot of things here,” Qian said, rummaging through various corners to show him her stash.

Only then did Huai You Nong realize that, unbeknownst to him, his own chambers had turned into her storage hideout.

“You don’t even like me, yet you hide all your stuff here?”

Qian didn’t say anything and just looked at him.

Huai You Nong, unwilling to argue over such trivial matters, tossed the mask aside with a headache.

“Listen, I’m going to take you out of the Demon Palace. We’re heading to the Mortal Realm, near the Cultivation Realm. You can’t reveal your identity recklessly—you must behave, or I won’t take you. Understood?”

Huai You Nong assumed this little troublemaker wouldn’t cooperate. Given her earlier stubbornness, he expected to have to warn and explain multiple times before she’d listen.

Unexpectedly, Qian agreed immediately. “Okay, I got it!”

Huai You Nong grew suspicious. “You really understand?”

“We’re leaving here for a dangerous place and can’t expose our identities,” Qian suddenly became obedient, even taking the initiative to compromise, “I can call you big brother.”

She wasn’t insisting on being the big sister anymore.

Huai You Nong narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing her. He suspected she had long believed he was her father, and all her previous antics were deliberate. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have given in so quickly and become so well-behaved.

Upon learning they were leaving for another place, Qian was thrilled. She no longer clashed with Huai You Nong and let him hold her hand obediently.

After leaving a message about his closed-door cultivation, Huai You Nong took Qian and exited through the tunnel beneath Zhu Ding Mountain. No one knew that these tunnels not only led to his secluded cultivation chamber but also had a hidden passage leading directly out of the Demon Palace, with an exit at the border between the Demon Realm and the Mortal Realm.

On a desolate mountain path at the Demon Realm–Mortal Realm border, two small figures walked hand in hand. They looked around six or seven years old, both with black hair, black eyes, and pale skin. At first glance, anyone would mistake them for twins.

Of course, their appearances were altered, masking their original hair and eye colors—the Demon Lord and his daughter, in disguise.

This remote borderland was barren and unremarkable. Qian quickly lost interest and began dragging her feet.

She tugged at Huai You Nong’s hand and said, “I can’t walk anymore.”

Huai You Nong wasn’t surprised. He turned his head and said, “You can’t even manage a walk? Useless.”

Qian whimpered. She felt uncomfortable and didn’t want to walk at all.

Without any pretense, she directly climbed onto him. “Big brother, carry me.”

“If you refuse to walk next time, I’ll leave you here.”

Despite his words, Huai You Nong picked her up.

A child carrying another child—it looked rather odd.

Qian rested her head on her “big brother’s” small shoulder, staring at his adorable little face. She reached out a finger and poked him.

Huai You Nong turned his head slightly and warned, “Behave.”

Qian was completely unafraid now. She swayed playfully on his back, giggling mischievously.

The more Huai You Nong thought about it, the more he felt he couldn’t spoil this child too much. Suddenly, he loosened his grip and set her down.

“Walk on your own now.”

Once on the ground, Qian squatted in place.

“No.”

Huai You Nong was curious to see how stubborn she could be.

They remained in a stalemate until the sound of hooves approached—a group of people was coming.

There were fewer than ten of them in total. One drove a cart while the others rode horses, their mounts and cargo laden with goods. A faint scent of blood lingered in the air. At a glance, it was clear they were the type of bandits common in the Demon Realm, making a living through plunder.

“It’s two kids. They look like high-quality goods. Take them both!” the leader of the group ordered.

Huai You Nong, already simmering with anger from dealing with his daughter, now looked at them and slowly raised his hand.

Even in his childlike form, dealing with these third-rate thugs was no challenge at all.

A short while later, a trembling bandit with a vacant stare drove the cart, carrying Huai You Nong and Qian toward the boundary marker.

Behind them, the wreckage left in their wake was gradually covered by yellow dust.

“When I was a child, I was never as delicate as you,” Huai You Nong said, sitting in the carriage with his arms crossed.

Qian, too busy rummaging through the pile of “spoils” inside the cart, had no time to listen to his lecturing.

She pulled out a bag of fragrant roasted beef jerky—originally meant as drinking snacks for the bandits.

It smelled delicious. Though tough, it wasn’t impossible to chew on slowly.

Before long, Qian dozed off against Huai You Nong’s side, still biting down on half a piece of rock-hard beef jerky.

Watching as her drool slowly trickled down along the jerky, Huai You Nong raised his hand, yanked the jerky from her mouth, and tossed it outside. Then, with a resigned expression, he pulled her little head into his arms.

The bandit driving the cart, who was just hit on the head by the flying beef jerky: “…”

He dared not be angry, nor did he dare to speak. Just where did these two little demon overlords come from?!