After breakfast, Yu Zhiyan told Lin An to go to Tailor Liu’s place east of town.
She had ordered some colored threads there and wanted Lin An to check if they had arrived.
“Aunty Yan, I’m heading out. Do you need me to bring anything back?”
“No need. But you can take a stroll through the town. It’s changed quite a bit lately.”
“Oh? Alright.”
Lin An had no reason to doubt Aunty Yan.
He agreed casually and walked out the door.
Yu Zhiyan cleared the dishes, then headed to an open space in the backyard.
If Lin An were here, he would notice that the Aunty Yan before him had completely transformed.
Not in appearance, but in demeanor.
Compared to her usual gentle and dignified self, her face now bore a layer of gloom and ruthlessness.
She waved her hand toward the open space, and the flat bricks immediately unraveled like loose canvas, revealing an underground entrance.
Lin An would never have guessed that there was such a place in his own backyard.
Yu Zhiyan descended step by step.
With each step, torches on both sides of the passage flared to life, and a scritch-scratch sound of jointed legs crawling echoed through the corridor.
She walked straight to the end, where a room resembling a prison cell stood.
Standing before the bars, she looked inside.
A white-haired woman, her hair touching the ground, was suspended upside down in the air, her body wrapped in white silk threads, with only her head exposed.
Beside the woman was a black cat, also bound and hung upside down in midair.
Yu Zhiyan stared coldly at the woman and the cat.
Before she could speak, the bound woman spoke first.
“And who do we have here? Isn’t this the Jade Spider Demon who failed the battle for Demon King and was forced to flee the Demon Realm? What, are you addicted to raising human brats now? Disgusting.”
If Lin An were here, he would definitely recognize that the woman who attacked him last night was the one tied up here.
Yu Zhiyan narrowed her eyes slightly.
A murderous intent as powerful as a tsunami flashed and vanished.
She curled her lips disdainfully.
“Su Li, don’t think that just because you’re the Grand Elder of the Heaven Origin Sect, I won’t dare to do anything to you. A filthy mixed-blood like you deserves to bark at me?”
Su Li, whose expression had remained unchanged after being hung all night, turned visibly ugly at the word “mixed-blood.”
Because of her human bloodline, she was rejected by the Demon Race.
And because of her demon bloodline, she was rejected by the Human Race.
But it wasn’t something she could choose.
Seeing that she seemed slightly angered, a hint of smugness flashed in Yu Zhiyan’s eyes.
She crossed her arms and looked down at her.
“So, Elder Su, shall we talk? The Demon Extermination Assembly isn’t here, is it? And how did they allow you to be released?”
Actually, these questions should have been asked last night when Su Li was captured, but… at that time, Yu Zhiyan was busy.
Having just been stabbed in her sore spot, Su Li’s anger hadn’t subsided.
She turned her face away, looking like “I don’t want to talk to you.”
Since she wouldn’t speak, the little cat beside her started meowing.
“Oh?”
A hint of curiosity appeared on Yu Zhiyan’s face.
“This little kitty wants to talk? Alright, go ahead.”
Huan Xing had been caught in absolute misfortune.
She never intended to harm Lin An.
She hadn’t even gotten close.
Just because she glanced at him from afar, this woman noticed her…
No, in Huan Xing’s perception, the woman before her wasn’t human at all.
She was a terrifying existence wrapped in human skin.
She had been raised by Ling Cang since she was young and had seen many important figures.
But the only one who made her feel this kind of instinctive, primal fear was this person.
Let’s just say, the little cat had never been to the Demon Realm, so she didn’t understand what bloodline suppression among demons meant.
“Meow, meow, meow meow!”
“Oh, oh, mm-hmm.”
Su Li turned to look at Yu Zhiyan.
To her ears, it was completely incomprehensible cat talk, but this woman seemed to understand and nodded in response.
“Who are you trying to fool? You really understand that?” she couldn’t help asking.
Yu Zhiyan’s eyes were filled with contempt.
“I told you that you can’t do it, but you refuse to listen. I’m proficient in the languages of all races in the Demon Realm. Do you think I’ve been alive all these years for nothing?”
“Oh, so that means you’re pretty old? Do you dare to tell that kid your true identity?”
“…You’re looking for death?”
This time, Yu Zhiyan didn’t hold back.
An overwhelming murderous intent locked onto Su Li.
It seemed she was truly intent on killing.
But that made Su Li smile instead.
“See, you’re getting agitated again. Just a joke.”
“I warn you: if you dare say one more word to my little An’er, even the Heaven Origin Sect won’t be able to protect you!”
“Yes, yes. Hmph~”
Their positions seemed to have shifted.
Only the little cat beside them was so frightened that its fur stood on end, afraid that this one might actually follow through.
The tense atmosphere gradually dissipated.
Yu Zhiyan’s fingers moved lightly, and with two thuds, the woman and cat in the cell fell to the ground, their bindings also released.
Su Li stood up, flexed her wrists, and glanced at the cat shrinking in the corner.
It seemed the little cat had told her everything.
So that meant…
“Su Li.”
“Hmm?”
“What is Lu Mingyue’s relationship with my little An’er?”
“I don’t know.”
Yu Zhiyan’s face darkened.
“Who are you trying to fool?”
Su Li looked completely at ease.
“I really don’t know. Mingyue sent me to deal with the Demonic Path. I smelled a nice scent on that kid and just wanted a taste. I wasn’t trying to kill him.”
She had another complaint left unsaid: Who knew he had you behind him? Didn’t get the meat, and got tied up all night.
“He joined the Heaven Origin Sect?”
“Didn’t you know? He’s wearing our Servant Disciple uniform.”
Yu Zhiyan really didn’t know.
She just thought the clothes on Lin An looked familiar but hadn’t paid it any mind.
That damn kid.
He’s really grown his wings and hidden everything from me.
The problem was, she couldn’t ask about it either, because in Lin An’s perception, his Aunty Yan was just an ordinary village woman who knew nothing about the Cultivation World.
What was she supposed to do?
Su Li stepped forward two paces and met Yu Zhiyan’s gaze through the bars.
“Oh, I never expected that the great demon known as the ‘Thousand-Silk Spider Mother’ would actually be troubled over a mortal. You’re not actually having some thoughts, are you? Other than smelling nice, what’s so special about him?”
“Keep your dog nose to yourself! Don’t you dare sniff!”
“Heh, still guarding your food, tsk tsk. I’m definitely not a dog, but you might not be a spider either—a spidering spider.”
Yu Zhiyan clenched her teeth, red light flickering in her eyes.
The reason Su Li dared to be so cocky even though she couldn’t win was that she had seen through Yu Zhiyan’s reluctance to kill her.
Because killing her would be simple, but the trouble afterward—one demon hunted by the Demon Realm—couldn’t afford it.
Or maybe, she didn’t want to implicate that mortal?
Who knows?
Su Li didn’t care.
With the Taotie bloodline within her, her greatest hobby was eating.
Anything and everything.
Of course, what she ate had to have value.
For example, Lin An’s constitution.
She didn’t know what it was, but she knew that if she ate Lin An’s flesh, she would gain tremendous benefits.
The greed deep in her bloodline told her so.
“So,” Su Li grabbed the bars with both hands, a smirk curling on her lips, “Thousand-Silk Spider Mother, let’s make a deal.”
“What deal?”
“I want a piece of his flesh and a bowl of his blood. I can help you enter the Heaven Origin Sect and let you stay by his side.”
“Hmph, heh heh heh,” Yu Zhiyan let out a low laugh after hearing this.
“Not only do you want to harm my little An’er, but you also want to lock me in the Heaven Origin Sect’s cage. You might as well stop being called Taotie and call yourself Qiongqi instead. Full of tricks.”
“Flattery…”
Before Su Li could finish her words, a sinister smile still hanging on her face, a black-red jointed leg as thick as an arm extended from behind Yu Zhiyan.
Like lightning, it pierced through Su Li’s shoulder, pinning her to the wall behind with a dull thud.
“Ugh…”
A pained groan escaped Su Li’s mouth.
“You…”
Yu Zhiyan’s face was ice cold, red light blazing in her eyes.
“Su Li, this is my last warning. Don’t you dare have any improper thoughts about my little An’er again.”
With that, she withdrew her jointed leg and turned to walk away.
“Get lost. You, little cat, come here. I have something to tell you.”
The summoned cat trembled all over, turned to glance at Su Li, who was slumped in the corner with a pale face, and didn’t dare to hesitate as she followed.
Su Li staggered to her feet, clutching her bleeding, pierced shoulder.
“This crazy woman. This isn’t over!”