Chapter 62: Demon Lord (7)

“Wuwu, I want to go home. I’m taking these home with me.”

The child’s round little face was flushed red, her eyelashes damp. She pouted her rosy lips and whimpered as she spoke.

As she talked, she stood on tiptoe to grab the pastries from the table, stuffing them into her pockets nonstop. Her newly changed red dress was quickly getting dirty.

Liusha watched her sweeping away all the pastries from the Demon Lord’s hall, loudly proclaiming she was running away from home, and his expression turned troubled.

After a moment, Liusha brought over a food box.

“Young Miss, it’s better to use this to carry them.”

Qian switched to the red lacquered food box, stuffing all the edible things in the hall inside. Then, as she looked around the grand yet empty hall, her anger surged. She ran over to the bed, dug under the covers, yanked out the Demon Lord’s pillow, and forcefully slammed it onto the ground.

She even issued a loud curse: “Bad Daddy, you’ll go bald!”

Liusha: “……”

After venting her frustration, she grabbed the large food box and strode out. The moment she exited the Demon Lord’s sleeping quarters, her short legs moved swiftly as she scurried away.

She hurried down the steps, crossed the front plaza, and entered the grand hall ahead.

By the time she reached the main hall, her pace had noticeably slowed.

Liusha, who had been secretly following her ever since he was inexplicably assigned as her bodyguard by the Demon Lord, figured she was getting tired.

Although she had inherited the Demon Lord’s bloodline, she had never cultivated. She was just naturally strong and sturdy.

She seemed to be a rather lazy child—after walking for a while, she would start looking for someone to carry her.

At this moment, she hesitated, glancing around as if searching for someone. But this was still the core of the Demon Lord’s palace. There were hardly any people here, and after the Demon Lord’s latest purge, not even a ghostly shadow could be seen.

Seeing no one around, the child puffed up her cheeks. She plopped down onto the high threshold, opened her food box, took out two pastries—one in each hand—and nibbled on them slowly for a long while.

Replenished by food, she closed the food box and resumed dragging it along, continuing her runaway journey.

At last, she exited the golden palace of the Demon Lord and arrived at the outer hall.

Here, many servants were bustling about. Upon seeing Qian appear, they turned pale with fright and hastily knelt, exclaiming, “Young Miss!”

Since arriving in this world, Qian had been cared for only by Liusha and Luoye. No one else was allowed near her, making this the first time she faced so many people on her own.

With no one stopping her, she curiously approached a pretty-looking maid and gazed at her expectantly. “Can you carry me?”

The maid, upon seeing Qian’s face, was so terrified that her mind blanked out. Her whole body trembled, and she stammered incoherently in fear.

“N-no… Demon Lord… Y-young Miss… I…”

The fearsome and ruthless Demon Lord Huai Yunong had an overwhelming presence.

Rejected, Qian watched as the trembling young lady nearly burst into tears from fright. She was so startled by the maid’s reaction that she quickly grabbed her food box and ran off.

Outside, the guards stood in solemn formation.

These demonic soldiers were elite warriors, each tall, burly, and incredibly fierce-looking.

The kind of fierce that wasn’t particularly attractive.

Originally intending to ask if they could carry her, Qian clutched her food box tighter and ran past the guards instead. Little did she know that her sudden appearance had frightened them just as much.

The demon general Yin Yan, who was still stationed at his post despite his injuries, turned his head and spotted the child running toward him.

By now, everyone in the Demon Palace knew that the previous “Little Demon Lord” was actually the Demon Lord’s child.

No one knew where this child had come from, but since the Demon Lord acknowledged her, they had no choice but to do the same.

“Young Miss, what are you doing here?”

Seeing the righteous-looking demon general before her, Qian’s eyes lit up—finally, a familiar face! She remembered this man had once blocked an attack for her, got into a fight, and ended up getting blasted away!

Now exhausted from walking, she wanted him to carry her. But recalling how the maid had refused her earlier, she thought for a moment, then rummaged through her food box and pulled out a pastry.

With her small hand, she waved the pastry in front of Yin Yan—just like luring a puppy.

“For me? Your subordinate thanks the Young Miss for the reward!”

Yin Yan knelt on one knee, accepting the pastry. Under Qian’s expectant gaze, he hesitantly put it into his mouth.

Seeing this, Qian was delighted. She promptly stepped onto his shoe and began climbing onto him.

To avoid being rejected, she chose not to ask directly but instead used food as bait. A trade—if he ate her pastry, he had to help her.

Suddenly having the child climb onto him, Yin Yan froze.

Even though he knew this was the Demon Lord’s child, she looked too much like the Demon Lord. Having her suddenly cling to him was an overwhelming experience.

“Go, walk forward!” Qian commanded.

Liusha, stealthily following behind, watched as the foolish demon general stiffened like a refined corpse and obediently carried the child out, without a hint of resistance.

Only after leaving the Demon Palace’s grounds did Yin Yan finally snap out of it. With a rigid expression, he asked the child in his arms,

“Young Miss, where do you want to go?”

Qian puffed up her cheeks again, thinking of the Demon Lord who wanted to eat her.

“I want to go home! I want to find Daddy!”

Yin Yan: “The Demon Lord is out on business. Your subordinate doesn’t know where he is.”

“I want to go to Dragon Island.” Qian wiped her eyes.

“Where is Dragon Island?”

Qian didn’t know how to explain, so she described it instead: “I want to go to the place with lots of clouds!”

A place with lots of clouds? Yin Yan only knew of one such place—the Cloud-Under Palace of the Ninth Elder, Changchun Jia. That palace was always shrouded in mist, and its buildings were built atop cloud-covered islands.

So he asked, “Do you mean the island?”

Qian beamed. “Yes, the island!”

The residences of the nine elders were located around the Demon Palace, and Cloud-Under Palace wasn’t far.

Carrying Qian, Yin Yan swiftly arrived at the palace gates.

Yin Yan swiftly carried Qian to the entrance of Cloud-Under Palace.

If Yin Yan were alone, it would have been difficult to enter the Ninth Elder’s residence without a valid reason. However, as soon as the guards at the gate saw Qian’s face, which bore a striking resemblance to the Demon Lord, none of them dared to stop her. Instead, they hurried to report to the Ninth Elder.

On the island in the center of the lake within Cloud-Under Palace, Chang Chunqia was leisurely turning his folding fan as he spoke with the person seated across from him.

“This time, thanks to your warning, we didn’t act recklessly. Otherwise, we would’ve ended up with more than just these injuries. But still, this whole situation is baffling. Where exactly did that Young Lord come from? Are you sure she wasn’t planted by Huai Younong as part of some scheme?”

Sitting across from him was the healer cultivator, Han Qiu.

He still had that perpetually languid expression, though he no longer looked as submissive as he did in front of the Demon Lord. Finishing the last sip of his tea, he drawled lazily, “At first, I also mistook the little Young Lord for the Demon Lord. It was only when I failed to provoke any demonic power from her that I started having doubts.”

“If not for the sudden appearance of this little Demon Lord, the Creation-Returning Pill wouldn’t have been wasted on her. Sheling and the others suffered heavy losses this time.” Chang Chunqia refilled Han Qiu’s tea, his tone full of schadenfreude.

As spies from opposing factions within the cultivation world, Chang Chunqia and Sheling were in competition with each other.

The cultivation world and the Demon Realm had been planting spies within each other’s ranks for ages. Chang Chunqia had spent years carefully maneuvering to become an elder. Those who lacked patience and were too eager for quick success had long since exposed themselves and perished.

“The Demon Lord now has an heir. Wouldn’t this be a weak spot we can exploit? After all, this means he finally has a vulnerability…”

“With his Heavenly Demon bloodline and that kind of personality, do you really think he would see his offspring as a weakness?” Han Qiu replied listlessly.

Just as Chang Chunqia was about to say more, someone rushed in to report, “Elder! The Young Lord has arrived with General Yin Yan!”

“What?” Chang Chunqia turned his head in shock, only to see Han Qiu vanish with a speed unbefitting his usual sluggish demeanor.

“Young Lord Han!” Chang Chunqia called out.

“Don’t call me that. For the sake of our past acquaintance, here’s my advice: don’t drag me into any bloodshed. I’m leaving.”

Chang Chunqia wordlessly snapped his fan shut.

Han Qiu was one of the young Master of his faction, but he had grown tired of power struggles and chosen to hide in the Demon Realm. Despite his formidable cultivation and abilities, he had no interest in taking action.

Even their grand mission of assassinating the Demon Lord and eradicating the Demon Realm’s forces held no appeal for him, which was truly frustrating.

Qian’s excitement and anticipation faded the moment she saw the lake island and misty clouds of Cloud-Under Palace. Her energy drained, and she slumped against Yin Yan’s shoulder.

Deep down, she knew the truth—she could never truly go back. No matter which home it was, once she left, she could never return.

A sudden wave of longing and grievance overwhelmed her, and the child couldn’t help but sob.

Chang Chunqia emerged with a bright smile to greet them, only to be met with the sight of the Young Lord’s tear-streaked, flushed face.

His smile froze as he turned to the equally stiff Yin Yan.

“General, I don’t recall ever having any enmity with you. In fact, I’ve even helped you before. So why have you brought the Young Lord here to frame me?”

Bringing the Young Lord to his doorstep, crying—was that not the very definition of entrapment?

He had no doubt that if the Demon Lord suddenly appeared and saw this scene, he wouldn’t listen to a single explanation before tearing him apart.

“The Young Lord said she wanted to see the clouds. I don’t know why she started crying,” the honest Yin Yan replied.

“Young Lord, please don’t cry! Didn’t you want to see the clouds? Look!” Chang Chunqia waved his folding fan, gathering the mist over the lake and shaping it into various animals that floated around Qian.

Distracted, Qian quickly forgot about her tears. She wriggled down to the ground, reaching out to touch the cloud animals.

She turned back to Chang Chunqia and commanded, “Make a duck! I want a duck!”

Chang Chunqia flicked his fan, and a flock of cloud ducks appeared.

Seeing the Young Lord break into laughter, Chang Chunqia secretly wiped away cold sweat. Fortunately, the child was easy to please—far easier to deal with than the Demon Lord.

Once she had played to her heart’s content, Qian ran over to a nearby table laden with pastries.

Yin Yan and Chang Chunqia sat with her.

“Young Lord, please help yourself,” Chang Chunqia said with a smile.

At those words, Qian immediately climbed onto a chair and transferred all the pastries from the table into her now-partially-emptied food box, though she thoughtfully left a single piece for each of them.

Chang Chunqia noticed how her eyes remained fixed on the one piece of pastry in front of him and inwardly chuckled.

He had no idea where this little thing had come from, but she was staring at that one piece of pastry as if her life depended on it.

Smiling sincerely, he said, “If the Young Lord likes it, you may have this as well.”

“Really?” Qian asked.

“Of course.”

Qian beamed with joy and reached out—not for the pastry, but for the folding fan next to it.

Chang Chunqia: “……”

I wasn’t talking about the fan!

“Ah… Young Lord, that is my magical artifact…” Chang Chunqia began.

“Thank you.” The child looked up and flashed him an incredibly adorable smile.

Then, without waiting for him to finish, she hopped down from the chair, happily waving the fan around among the cloud animals just as Chang Chunqia had earlier.

Typically, once a toy fell into a child’s hands, it was gone for good.

And so, Chang Chunqia could only watch helplessly as Qian took his treasured fan and left.

“Young Lord, where would you like to go next?” Yin Yan asked, holding the food box with one arm while carrying Qian in the other as they reached the gates of Cloud-Under Palace.

Qian played with the jade folding fan and replied, “I want to go where there are lots of bones—bones with flowers, grass, and trees growing on them.”

Yin Yan: “?”

“The Young Lord must be referring to the Bone Refining Hall of the Second Elder,” Chang Chunqia’s voice interjected from behind them.

Now without his folding fan, he seemed a little uncomfortable, tucking his hands into his sleeves.

Thanks to Chang Chunqia’s input, their next destination was set—Elder Zhang’s Bone-Eroding Palace.

“Ninth Elder, are you accompanying us as well?”

“Haha, of course. I’ll join you in protecting the Young Lord.”

The Second Elder was a sharp-featured, gaunt man with a sinister air. He specialized in refining skeletal remains.

Within his Bone Refining Hall, every skeleton was one of his crafted minions. The entire palace contained only one living being—himself. The rest were corpses and bones.

“Greetings, Young Miss.” The Second Elder saluted.

Chang Chunqia smiled at Qian and said, “Young Miss, the Second Elder is quite formidable. Look at his wrist—he wears his artifact, the Cuiwei Bell. With just a shake, he can control thousands of bones.”

Then he turned to the Second Elder. “Second Elder, why not give the Young Miss a demonstration?”

The Second Elder: “?”

With a grim expression, he shook the bell.

Qian watched as the skeletal figures around them sluggishly moved about, showing an expression of interest. Chang Chunqia encouraged her from the side, “Young Miss, would you like to try it yourself?”

Before long, Qian had already snatched the Cuiwei Bell from the Second Elder’s hand and was gleefully shaking it nonstop.

The sound of bells rang out in unison, and the skeletons convulsed and twitched wildly, even the ones lying in the corner with grass sprouting from their heads clambering to their feet.

Moments later, Qian emerged from the Second Elder’s Bone-Eroding Palace, holding both the folding fan and the Cuiwei Bell.