Lin Xue turned her head, let out a sigh, and whispered to Zhang Zongnian, “Brother Zhang, we can’t leave for now. That Yao Girl isn’t willing to let anyone go.”
Zhang Zongnian’s face went pale, his disappointment clear as day, and he forced a bitter smile.
“I already expected this. After all, Miss Lin, how could you possibly cure that Demon’s poison?”
A look of dejection filled his eyes. “So, I suppose they’ll soon come to take me away and bleed me to cure that old Demon’s poison.”
“If only I’d had a chance to overthrow the Yang Family and avenge my mother.”
He raised his head and let out a long sigh, his eyes full of unwillingness.
Lin Xue shook her head and said,
“Brother Zhang, you don’t have to worry. They don’t need your blood anymore. The old Demon’s poison—I’ve already cured it. It’s just that the Yao Girl has broken her promise and won’t let me go.”
Zhang Zongnian’s eyes widened in disbelief, almost thinking he had misheard.
“Miss Lin, you cured the Demon’s poison? How did you do it?”
Lin Xue raised her hand, activated the Wood Spirit Detoxification Technique, and a wooden spike appeared in her palm.
Zhang Zongnian’s eyes grew even wider.
He stared at the wooden spike in Lin Xue’s hand, astonished, and asked,
“Wood Spirit Detoxification Technique—isn’t that my Senior Brother’s technique? Did he teach it to you? You and my Senior Brother knew each other before?”
Then he quickly denied his own guess. “That can’t be. Last night, when you were poisoned with Corpse Poison, you clearly didn’t know how to detoxify.”
Lin Xue smiled slightly, crushed the wooden spike, and said,
“It was this morning. I read your Senior Brother’s Gong Fa Shu about the Wood Spirit Detoxification Technique and picked it up on the spot.”
Her ability to instantly learn techniques would be exposed sooner or later, so it was better to just say it directly.
No one else knew about her Panel.
From others’ perspective, she merely needed to read a Gong Fa Shu once to master it—she’d likely be seen as some kind of once-in-a-lifetime genius.
After all, the Panel was also her own ability, so she had every reason to be confident.
Zhang Zongnian was dumbfounded, completely speechless.
Lin Xue added a bit more to his shock: “Also, yesterday in the ancestral hall at Li Family Hollow, I looked at your Sword Manual without your permission and learned your sect’s sword art. Please forgive me for that, Brother Zhang.”
Zhang Zongnian felt his worldview crumbling.
He had seen Lin Xue use the Swiftwind Sword Manual, her mastery of swordsmanship far exceeding his own.
He had even wondered whether Lin Xue had known his master for years.
Only now did he realize, Lin Xue had only read through his sword art once, yet already performed it so flawlessly.
He had practiced swordsmanship diligently for fifteen years and always prided himself on his skill, yet in the end, he could not compare to Lin Xue reading it once.
All he could do was sigh inwardly—genius truly is genius.
Compared to ordinary people, it was like night and day.
Lin Xue saw Zhang Zongnian’s dazed, shocked expression, and she felt a touch of pride.
She said, “Brother Zhang, I just wanted to let you know—don’t be anxious, just wait for me patiently for a month.”
She showed him the ring on her finger and explained, “The teleportation spell on this ring can only be used once a month. I’ve already used it today, so the next time will be a month later.”
“Now, that Yao Girl wants me to be her personal maid. I’ll try my best in this month to see if I can retrieve that Paper Crane.”
“With that Paper Crane, we’ll have a way to escape.”
“A month later, if the Yao Girl still won’t let us go, I’ll come for you and we’ll teleport away together.”
Zhang Zongnian slowly recovered from his earlier shock.
After listening to Lin Xue’s plan, he nodded and said, “Alright, I’ll wait for you.”
With hope of survival, he looked much more spirited.
Lin Xue said, “I’m leaving, Brother Zhang. Take care.”
Seeing that she was about to go, Zhang Zongnian’s eyes were full of reluctance.
Here in this demon’s den, Lin Xue was the only familiar person he had.
He said, “Miss Lin, you take care too. That Yao Girl is untrustworthy and heartless—be extremely careful by her side.”
He untied the Jade Pendant from his waist and handed it to Lin Xue.
“I have no use for this while I’m locked up here. It’s more dangerous for you outside—better for you to keep it.”
Lin Xue originally wanted him to keep it for himself, but then thought that she might run into that little tyrant at any time—having something extra to protect herself might just save her life at a critical moment.
So she accepted the Jade Pendant.
She waved to Zhang Zongnian and said, “I’ll be careful. Brother Zhang, I’ll come see you again when I have a chance. Farewell.”
She turned and left.
Zhang Zongnian watched her departing figure, lost in a daze.
After a while, his stomach began to growl.
Only then did he realize his stomach was empty and painfully hungry.
Ever since Yang Yuhai had called him out for a mission last night, he hadn’t eaten a thing.
He was too worried for his mother’s safety to eat.
After being thrown into this cell, a Demon did send him a meal.
But he was anxious about Lin Xue’s safety and dreaded being dragged out to be bled, so he had no appetite—though he was starving, he hadn’t touched his chopsticks.
Now, the grief of his mother’s passing had faded, and his conversation with Lin Xue had soothed his fear of imminent death.
He finally felt hungry and wanted to eat something.
He looked down at the bowl of rice on the ground.
To his surprise, a big, dusty gray rat was crouched next to his bowl, gobbling down his meal.
Zhang Zongnian stomped his foot and shouted. The rat dropped the food, bolted, and scurried into a hole in the wall.
Starving, Zhang Zongnian picked up the bowl—heart aching and disgusted at the food the rat had ruined—but in the end, he sighed, put the bowl down, and dumped the rice at the entrance to the rat hole.
Forget it, little thing, you can have it all.
I’ll go hungry another meal and wait for dinner.
……
In Xichuan County city, in the back courtyard of the Demon Execution Office, Yang Family’s grand residence.
A streak of light sped over and landed in the back courtyard.
The light faded, revealing Yang Zhen, his face dark, mouth sunken and toothless, radiating anger.
He had thought a mere little snake demon would be nothing—he, the family’s Foundation Establishment Ancestor, would surely capture it with ease, reclaim the Foundation-building Pill, and avenge his family’s loss.
Who would have expected—even after taking the Bone-Eroding Pill, sacrificing more than half of what little lifespan he had left, he had failed to catch the snake demon, hadn’t gotten back the Foundation-building Pill, and had suffered a huge loss himself—bewitched by a weasel demon’s illusion, smacked hard by a bear’s paw, and most of his teeth shattered.
Utter humiliation!
Yang Deguang saw the returning streak of light and hurried over to the back courtyard to greet the Ancestor.
Seeing Yang Zhen’s expression, he immediately sensed something was wrong.
The words of flattery he had prepared died in his throat.
Did the Ancestor suffer a setback?
His steps slowed.
Yang Zhen glared at his great-grandson, furious, and lashed out with a kick.
All you useless juniors! You couldn’t even deal with a measly snake demon! Now I, the Ancestor, am thoroughly disgraced!
Yang Deguang dared not dodge, took the kick head-on, and knelt down.
“Ancestor, please calm your anger! Please take care of your health!”
Naturally, Yang Zhen hadn’t really used his full strength.
With his leaky mouth, he roared indistinctly, “Quick! Send a greeting card to Sect Master Yue of the Beast Taming Sect, tell him I’ll be visiting in person!”
That little snake demon is now hiding in the Demonic Beast’s territory—no human cultivator can get in.
Fortunately, that Jade Pendant is still on her person, so he could track her location.
The only way now was to ask the Beast Taming Sect for help, send in a few spirit beasts to sneak into the Demonic Beast’s territory, assassinate her, and reclaim the Foundation-building Pill!
Little demon, just you wait!
Lin Xue and Yuan Ding walked toward the exit of the passage.
As they stepped out of the tunnel and into the cavern, she saw all the little demons outside kneeling on the ground.
In the middle of the cavern, a chubby youth of about fifteen or sixteen, dressed in brocade, was kicking and punching a hunched figure on the ground, cursing nonstop.
“You little bastard, this Young Master took a liking to your sister—that’s her fortune! A blessing she earned over lifetimes, and what right do you mangy rats have to complain?”
“You even dared to bring a knife to ambush this Young Master—your rat brain must be full of lard!”
“Your sister died from being played to death by this Young Master—her own body was too weak to handle it, who can she blame? Why didn’t your family feed her up a bit?”
“You rats were born just to be played with by this Young Master! You’re all lowly creatures!”
“Do you know, you little bastard, your sister was tossed around by my men all night, screamed herself hoarse—her cries were music to my ears, hahaha!”
The figure on the ground was clearly a rat demon.
That rat demon was covered in wounds, blood trickling from his mouth, his bloodshot eyes staring at the fat youth with bitter hatred.
A knife lay discarded nearby—clearly the rat demon’s weapon.
The fat youth’s transformation was almost complete, leaving only a pair of cat ears atop his head.
His clothes were luxurious, and he looked to have extremely high status.
Several burly demons stood nearby, arms folded—they were likely his attendants and bodyguards.
Young Master Huzi!
Lin Xue instantly guessed the youth’s identity.
Her heart sank.
She hadn’t expected to run into this little tyrant so soon.
She made a quick decision and turned at once, retreating back toward the Human Medicine Room’s passage, wanting to avoid this fiend.
Yuan Ding, seeing her turning back into the passage, asked curiously, “Hey, Sister Snake, where are you going? Weren’t we going back to the Demon Princess?”
His voice wasn’t loud, but at this moment, with all the little demons in the cavern kneeling in silence, his words rang out loud and clear for all to hear.
All the demons turned their heads toward them in unison.
That fat cat-eared youth also turned his head.
He spotted Lin Xue’s beautiful figure, and his eyes instantly lit up.