Lang Buping and Xiong Ba were both stunned by such domineering conditions.
Lin Xue was stunned as well.
She even wondered in her heart—could this tigress simply not want to marry, so she deliberately made such outrageous demands?
No normal man would agree to that, would he?
Letting the husband marry into the wife’s family was one thing, but on top of that, he still had to provide a betrothal gift?
Even having children depended on the woman’s wishes, and if they had children, the kids would take her surname.
Even Li Zhongtang, if he traveled through time to this world, wouldn’t dare agree to such a marriage partner.
Sure enough, both Lang Buping and Xiong Ba were first shocked, then immediately showed troubled expressions on their faces.
“Well, this is a serious matter. I’ll have to go back and ask my father’s opinion.” Lang Buping stopped waving his fan, the smile on his face replaced with worry.
“Marriage is a big deal. I gotta go ask my dad,” Xiong Ba said, reaching out with his bear paw to scratch his head.
Seeing that both demons were starting to make excuses, Hong Yanzhi sneered coldly and asked, “Are you even men? You can’t even decide this much for yourselves? Daddy’s boys!”
Both demons mumbled and dared not answer.
The three demons parted ways in displeasure, each returning to their own mountain.
…
That afternoon, Hong Yanzhi was called over by a little demon sent by Hong Lao San.
Lin Xue stood at the door with Dingdang and Guangdang, listening as a fierce argument broke out between father and daughter inside.
“Yanzhi! What’s wrong with you? Who told you to demand their son marry into our family? And what’s this about making the children take the Hong surname? Who taught you that?”
In his anger, Hong Lao San actually forgot to cast a soundproofing spell, so Lin Xue, Dingdang, and Guangdang outside the door heard every word.
Hong Yanzhi replied with resentment,
“Wasn’t it you, Father, always urging your daughter to hurry up and get married? Since I don’t want to leave home, the only way is to have them marry in. Since they’re marrying in, naturally the children should take my surname!”
Hong Lao San roared, “Nonsense! Utter nonsense! And how can you say that even if they marry in, they still have to provide a betrothal gift? Who does things this way?”
Hong Paitai retorted, “Aren’t you planning to use the betrothal gift from marrying off your daughter to help my brother get a wife? I’m just trying to ease your worries, Father, so my brother won’t go without a betrothal gift and can get married too!”
Hong Lao San was furious: “You’re being ridiculous! If your Uncle Lang Qianxing hadn’t messaged me to ask if this was my idea, I wouldn’t have known you could be so willful and unruly!”
“I’ve already explained to your Uncle Lang Qianxing and Uncle Xiong Hei that it was just you joking with Lang Buping and Xiong Ba. Next time you see Lang Buping and Xiong Ba, you apologize to them properly! Don’t act so willful again!”
“And another thing, I’ve asked you many times, and you keep putting it off. Today you tell your father clearly—when will you finally decide who you want to marry?”
Hong Paitai pouted, “I’m not marrying! I want to stay on the mountain! If you insist on me getting married, then just bring in a live-in son-in-law.”
Hong Lao San was so angry he stomped his feet: “What live-in son-in-law! If we get a son-in-law, where will the betrothal gift come from? Our mountain is poor enough as it is, do you want your brother to go without a wife?”
Hong Paitai sneered, “So at the end of the day, you just want to sell your daughter for a daughter-in-law!”
Hong Lao San flew into a rage: “What selling your daughter? Why are you so thoughtless, can’t you think of the family’s burdens?”
Hong Paitai continued sneering: “Am I not thinking enough for the family? Ever since you were poisoned fifty years ago and your health went bad, haven’t I managed everything in the mountain for you, so you could rest easy in bed and recover? And now you still say I don’t understand things?”
“You’re getting old, Father, and your energy’s limited. Tigerzi has been spoiled by you—he’s idle and does nothing serious, always fooling around. If I marry out, who’s going to manage all the affairs inside and outside the cave?”
Hong Lao San was speechless for a moment, then said, “I’m not that old! I can still take care of the mountain affairs, you don’t need to worry. You just focus on getting married.”
“Once your brother gets a wife, naturally she’ll help him take care of these things.”
Hong Yanzhi replied, “She’s an outsider—will she really care about managing Xixia Mountain?”
Hong Lao San said, “A married daughter is like water poured out. Once she comes to our Hong Family, she’ll be one of us. From then on, the Hong Family will be her home, and she’ll have to care.”
Hong Yanzhi’s tone was full of bitterness: “So once I’m married, I’ll be that water poured out too?”
Hong Lao San said, “Yanzhi, it’s like this everywhere, not just on our mountain—even humans do it this way. Why be so hung up on this?”
Hong Yanzhi was silent for a long time, then finally spoke coldly, “Fine. I’ve decided. I’ll marry Lang Buping.”
Hong Lao San was delighted: “Really? Ay—good girl, that’s the way!”
He went on excitedly: “Marrying into the Lang family is great—their Yellow Wind Mountain is rich, and Lang Buping is the only son. Once you’re there, you’ll surely run the household. Xiong Ba is just the second son, with an older brother above him. When they split the family property, it’ll be a mess.”
“Plus, the Langs are offering a generous betrothal gift. After your brother marries, there’ll be something left for your old father too, ha ha ha!”
“I’ll send word to your Uncle Lang Qianxing at once with the good news! Let’s set the date as soon as possible!”
Hong Yanzhi’s face was frosty as she walked out of Hong Lao San’s room, her eyes cold as ice.
Stepping out, she realized there was no soundproofing spell and froze for a moment.
She then turned her cold gaze to Lin Xue, Dingdang, and Guangdang outside, who were doing their best to pretend they hadn’t heard anything.
“You all heard?” Her tone was icy.
Lin Xue felt a chill run down her back.
She saw that the fur on Dingdang’s and Guangdang’s heads had bristled up.
“Meow…I only heard a little bit…” Dingdang stammered.
Hong Yanzhi’s face turned even colder.
“Get out! All of you, get out!” she roared.
Dingdang and Guangdang rolled and crawled away as fast as they could.
“Get back here!” Hong Yanzhi commanded again.
The two cat demons scrambled back and knelt before her.
Hong Yanzhi glared at them, eyes as if she wanted to eat someone, gritting her teeth as she said, “If a single word of this conversation between this Miss and my father gets out, I’ll skin you both myself!”
Dingdang and Guangdang kowtowed repeatedly, saying, “We swear we won’t say a word!”
Hong Yanzhi waved her hand: “Get lost!”
The two cat demons fled at lightning speed.
Hong Yanzhi’s gaze fell on Lin Xue.
Lin Xue stiffened, her heart thumping with anxiety.
If this tigress tells me to get lost, just where the heck am I supposed to go?
If I leave her side, what’ll I do if I run into that little demon king?
Fortunately, Hong Yanzhi said nothing—she just gave her a look and returned to her room.
Lin Xue followed behind, trying her best not to make a sound and not provoke her bad mood.
After entering her room, Hong Yanzhi turned to Lin Xue coldly, “Go stay outside. This Miss is upset—don’t come bother me!”
Lin Xue rolled her eyes in her heart: Fine, I’ll go out! You think I’m dying to wait on you or something?
She stepped out of the cave and stood at the door.
After standing a while, with nothing to do and feeling bored, she decided to start cultivating, drawing in the surrounding Earth Essence.
Her Serpent Core had always been at the critical point where it was just changing from a gaseous to a liquid state; her demon power was a little lacking, and her legs were almost fully formed, just a tiny bit short.
She’d been moving around on a snake tail these days, and always felt it wasn’t as convenient as legs.
If she could form her legs soon, it’d be easier to run away if she ever encountered Tigerzi.
She focused her mind and cultivated.
The cave was rich in Lingqi, and the Heaven and Earth Essence was especially lively—a perfect environment for cultivation.
Unknowingly, half an hour had passed.
Lin Xue suddenly opened her eyes.
Her snake tail gradually faded away, transforming into two long, slender legs.
Lin Xue walked back and forth a few steps, feeling her bare feet against the ground.
Being human-shaped was best after all.
With delight, she took a pair of embroidered shoes from her Storage Pouch inside her sleeve, slipped them on, then used her Ice Control Technique to form a mirror of ice before her to admire her fully human form.
Now, outwardly, she looked completely human.
She was admiring her reflection when suddenly she heard Hong Yanzhi calling from inside: “Someone!”
Lin Xue complained inwardly: Where’s someone? Didn’t you just send your two guards away?
She had no choice but to step into the ice mirror, enter the room, and answer, “I’m here, Miss.”
Hong Yanzhi was momentarily startled to see she’d transformed her legs.
She looked Lin Xue up and down, then said, “Go to the Yaoshi and find Elder Huai. Have him prepare a portion of Jingxin Shuqiyin for me. This Miss feels stifled and needs to drink this to calm down.”
Lin Xue felt a wave of resistance upon hearing she’d have to go out.
Why am I running errands again?
Don’t you know your beastly brother is always after me?
Do you want me to end up like that Pingping?
Seeing Lin Xue hesitate, Hong Yanzhi’s face grew frosty, her voice cold: “What, are you going to defy this Miss’s order?”
Seeing her about to get angry, Lin Xue could only brace herself and ask, “What if I run into Tigerzi?”
Hong Yanzhi sneered, “My brother’s not going to eat you, is he? You don’t want to go—do you expect this Miss to go herself?”
She unleashed the pressure of a Jindan-level demon, eyes brimming with danger.
Under the weight of her aura, Lin Xue’s heart pounded, her newly formed legs trembling and weakening beneath her.
This tigress, forced by her father to marry, was in a bad mood and wanted to take it out on someone—me.
A wise person doesn’t court disaster. I’d better just do as she says for now.
She could only nod and answer, “Yes, Miss, I’ll go right away.”
She turned and left the room.
Once out of Hong Yanzhi’s cave, the crushing pressure of the great demon immediately vanished.
The weight on Lin Xue’s body lifted, but the pressure in her heart doubled.
With none of Hong Yanzhi’s cat demon followers around, if she ran into Red Tigerzi, there wouldn’t even be anyone to call for help.
She could only be extra careful and act according to the situation.
Walking out of the passage, she reached the upper-level cave and took a deep breath, looking carefully around.
There was no sign of the little demon king in sight.
She quickly made her way to the ring-shaped corridor leading to the main hall.
She passed the crossroads without incident, went down the circular steps, and entered the lower-level cave.
The lower cave was still bustling, with many little demons busy and jostling about.
When Lin Xue appeared, many eyes turned her way.
Seeing she had fully transformed into a human shape, those gazes filled with astonishment and grew even more intense.
Having been the focus of attention many times, Lin Xue was already used to this sort of scene.
She looked around but didn’t spot Tigerzi.
She breathed a sigh of relief.
She ignored the stares of the little demons and headed straight toward the Yaoshi passage.
In the crowd, a burly tiger demon stared at Lin Xue’s back, first in surprise, then with a look of delight when he realized she was alone without the young lady’s other attendants.
He was one of Tigerzi’s lackeys.
These days, Tigerzi had been talking nonstop about this snake demoness, determined to find a chance to seize her and have his fun.
Now was the perfect opportunity, wasn’t it?
Tigerzi was always generous to his followers—after he’d played with the female demon, he’d let his lackeys have a taste, letting them get some of the benefits too.
Though they’d been punished harshly by the young lady last time over Pingping’s incident, that was because Tigerzi accidentally strangled Pingping to death.
As long as they were careful this time, kept an eye on Tigerzi, and made sure he didn’t go too far and kill this little snake demon, it’d be fine.
This little snake demon was certainly pretty—if he could get a taste thanks to Tigerzi, it’d be worth another beating from the young lady!
The tiger demon grinned wickedly and quickly ran to the upper-level cave.
He had to hurry and tell Tigerzi that the little snake demon had come out.
Lin Xue entered the Yaoshi.
The Yaoshi was a round cave, about the size of a basketball court, cold and quiet, with hardly any little demons around.
Along the walls, hundreds of small nests were dug out. Each one stored some herbs, filling the air with the scent of medicine.
In the center of the Yaoshi was a stove, with lively flames leaping below.
This was a natural earth fire, never extinguished, perfect for brewing medicine. That’s why the Yaoshi was set up here.
Elder Huai was an ancient locust tree demon.
Tree demons tended to live long—Elder Huai had lived nearly a thousand years and was the oldest demon in Xixia Mountain.
He looked like an old man of sixty or seventy, his skin full of wrinkles, just like aged bark.
He sat cross-legged at the center of the Yaoshi, eyes closed, meditating.
Hearing someone enter, he opened his eyes and looked at Lin Xue.
Lin Xue explained her purpose.
Elder Huai said nothing, transforming his arms into long branches that deftly reached into several stone nests, extracting portions of herbs, then took out a small scale and weighed the ingredients.
Once the medicine was prepared, he threw the herbs into a small pot, poured in pure water, and set it on the earth fire to boil.
“Come back in half an incense stick,” he said, closing his eyes to meditate again.
Half an incense stick meant about fifteen minutes.
Lin Xue calculated the time and felt it wasn’t worthwhile to return to the upper level just yet—wandering around would just increase her chances of running into Red Tigerzi.
She thought, I haven’t seen Zhang Zongnian in several days, and rarely get the chance.
Since the medicine isn’t ready yet, I might as well take this time to check in on him.
So she left the Yaoshi and headed for the storeroom.