NHWSG chapter 67

Xing Yingzhu opened his eyes.

Outside, the night was deep, and the moonlight outlined the dark furniture in the room. The oil lamp on the table had long been extinguished, its wick hanging down into the oil for quite some time.

The window opposite the bed had not been tightly closed before bedtime, and a cool breeze crept in through the window frame.

Sheng Zhao was sound asleep, his sleeping posture mediocre, as he had snatched away most of the blanket and bunched it up messily. One leg was tucked under the blanket while both hands were wrapped around Xing Yingzhu’s arm, showing no reservations.

Xing Yingzhu glanced at him disdainfully, lifting his arm begrudgingly to retrieve his “borrowed” right arm from Sheng Zhao’s embrace.

Sheng Zhao had an excellent quality of sleep, not waking up even as Xing Yingzhu roughly moved him around. He subconsciously groped around beside him. Xing Yingzhu simply stuffed a pillow under his arm, and since Sheng Zhao didn’t mind, he satisfiedly changed his position and fell asleep again.

Turning his head to look at him, Xing Yingzhu, acting like a mischievous child, reached out and pulled the pillow out from Sheng Zhao’s embrace.

Sheng Zhao frowned in his sleep, displeased, and bravely slapped Xing Yingzhu’s paw away, clutching the pillow tighter.

Xing Yingzhuo raised an eyebrow, chuckled lightly, pushed the pillow back into his embrace, then got out of bed.

He walked barefoot to the window in the outer room, securely closed the swaying wooden frame, and then looked up at the moon.

That day happened to be the fifteenth day of the lunar month, with a clear moon hanging high in the sky… resembling a freshly cooked round bun.

Xing Yingzhu gently stroked the area below his collarbone with his thumb, feeling the slight warmth emanating from there, where the deep purple dragon mark was faintly visible.

Back then—this phrase, for Xing Yingzhu, could probably be traced back to eight thousand years ago. Although Xing Yingzhu himself refused to admit that there were such embarrassing moments in his life, to be honest, at that time, he really thought he was doomed.

As for why the woman didn’t skin him alive and crush his dragon pearl, but instead stuffed his soul and dragon pearl into the belly of a mother serpent, allowing him to be reborn as a snake and live to this day, Xing Yingzhu still hadn’t figured it out.

“When you grow up, you’ll understand,” the woman, who was half-kneeling on the ground at the time, flicked his dragon pearl and smiled, saying, “When you understand, I’ll return your bones to you.”

Understand my foot—this mature big snake, who was now well over ten thousand years old, once again thought maliciously: it’s because your godly clan thinks too much that it went extinct.

He gently wiped the area below his collarbone, concealing the dragon mark, and was about to go back to bed to continue sleeping. However, just as he took a step back, he felt something flash in the grass not far outside the window, as if someone was spying on him.

Xing Yingzhu had noticed earlier that a bunch of little ones had come around here, mostly quadrupeds, occasionally mixed with a few aquatic creatures. He had initially thought they were here to see Sheng Zhao, so he didn’t bother. But now that they seemed to be looking at him, Xing Yingzhu’s bad temper flared up a bit.

He turned around, opened the door, and walked outside.

In the moonlight, several variously shaped little heads sporadically popped out of the grass, led by a young wolf demon with a cultivation base of about two thousand years, who had transformed into a young teenager of about fourteen or fifteen years old.

In the bushes beside him crouched several little ones who had only transformed into six or seven years old, with much lower cultivation bases, the oldest being only about twelve or thirteen hundred years old. They were probably all here with the young wolf demon.

Seeing Xing Yingzhu come out, those little ones seemed excited, rustling around in the bushes, making the leaves rustle loudly.

“Sir,” the young wolf demon, with considerable courage, grinned and leaned on a low bush, looking at him, saying, “We like the person inside the house. Why don’t you leave him to us—we’ll find you a better companion.”

Xing Yingzhu raised an eyebrow slowly.

If Sheng Zhao were awake now, he would surely be able to easily detect something wrong from Xing Yingzhu’s expression.

Although Xing Yingzhuo often ignored people with a sullen face, generally speaking, this kind of situation wasn’t usually a cause for concern and could be easily resolved.

But once he fell silent and smiled… that meant he was truly angry.

“Is that so?” Xing Yingzhu asked softly.

The young wolf demon thought he could negotiate terms with him, patting his chest and guaranteeing, shamelessly saying, “Really, it’s just a mortal little follower. Sir, whatever you like, tell us, we—”

Before he could finish his sentence, it was cut off in his throat. A jet-black iron chain extended from Xing Yingzhu’s hand, winding several times around the young wolf demon’s neck, tightening firmly.

The young wolf’s face immediately turned red, his neck thickening, struggling to pry open the chain. Xing Yingzhu sneered, flicked his wrist, and dragged the other person forward like he was tying a dog, stepping on the back of his neck.

The group of onlookers nearby immediately let out successive exclamations and subconsciously backed away five or six meters.

“I see you’ve been stationed at Mount Longhu for a long time, unaware of the vastness of the heavens and the earth,” Xing Yingzhu chuckled lightly, counter-questioning, “You’re trying to snatch someone from me, hmm?”

His tone rose slightly at the end, light and slow, as if carrying a little hook, tingling and numbing.

However, the young wolf demon didn’t really think he was a good person to associate with. The heavy foot on his neck was still there, chillingly cold, seemingly about to break his neck.

The young wolf demon had intended to use magic to escape, but he didn’t know what the chain was made of, and he couldn’t muster any strength. The jet-black chain tightened around his neck more and more, almost strangling him to death.

“You…” The wolf demon’s claws scratched the ground randomly, leaving several deep marks in the soil. He struggled to speak, “I didn’t do anything wrong… You can’t kill me…”

Xing Yingzhu chuckled again.

As beasts by nature, the demons were most adept at reading the situation. Seeing that Xing Yingzhu was not listening to advice, the young wolf demon immediately changed his strategy and began to plead.

“Sir…” He gasped for breath, enduring the suffocating sensation, scratching the ground, and squeezing out a few words from his throat, “I was wrong, spare me—”

Before he could finish begging for mercy, Xing Yingzhu lost patience. With a slight exertion of force, the jet-black chain deeply embedded itself in the wolf demon’s neck. Before the other party could even speak another word, he was turned into smoke by Xing Yingzhu’s foot.

Most of the demons detained at Mount Longhu didn’t have their original bodies; they were just souls. This death meant complete annihilation, leaving no trace of life behind.

The group of small fairies who had been watching nervously on the side were immediately frightened out of their wits, wanting to run but not daring to, afraid that this murderous deity would snatch another one at the slightest provocation.

“Anyone else who dares to covet the people around me, think about your cultivation first—” Xing Yingzhu smirked, his voice cold, “Get lost.”

The shadows of the trees swayed, and the little ones around suddenly scattered like birds and beasts, running away crisply.

Xing Yingzhu wound the jet-black chain back around his hand. When he turned back to the room, he found that Sheng Zhao was still asleep, completely unaware of the tragedy outside.

Xing Yingzhu frowned slightly, feeling somewhat unhappy.

He thought, why should I be angered in the middle of the night, and this fool sleeps so soundly.

So Xing Yingzhu’s anger rose from his heart, and wickedness arose from his guts. He wanted to reach out and add some ingredients to Sheng Zhao’s sweet dreams.

But before his fingertips touched Sheng Zhao’s forehead, he saw the other party turn his head and rub against the pillow, not knowing what he was dreaming, giggling foolishly and calling out “Yingzhu.”

Xing Yingzhu: “…”

Xing Yingzhuo changed his mind abruptly, withdrew his hand, glanced at him disdainfully, his lips curled upwards uncontrollably.

Sheng Zhao had no idea that he had narrowly escaped danger. He slept extremely peacefully, as if he had dreamt of something he didn’t want to wake up from, and was only awakened by Hu Huanyang who had come to find him at noon.

“Xiao Zhao—” Hu Huanyang said, “Stop sleeping, let’s go do something important.”

Sheng Zhao was pulled out of the door in a daze by Hu Huanyang, and it took him a while to understand that today was the day they were going to see the Origin Mirror. Xing Yingzhu and Zhang Chengde had already gone, leaving only Sheng Zhao still sleeping in the room.

“Why didn’t Xing Yingzhu wake me?” Sheng Zhao asked.

“He said for you to sleep a little longer,” Hu Huanyang’s expression was subtle, “He said you were doing something sweet in your dreams this morning, and he couldn’t wake you up.”

Sheng Zhao: “…”

Really? He doubted himself and asked inwardly, suddenly feeling suspicious.

The Origin Mirror was located on the northern peak of Tianmenshan, a forbidden area of Mount Longhu where ordinary people were not allowed to enter. When Hu Huanyang brought Sheng Zhao up, Zhang Jian was already waiting at the entrance to the forbidden area to receive them.

“When you go in later, don’t look around randomly,” Zhang Jian instructed, “The Origin Mirror is a divine artifact, so you’d better keep your distance.”

Hu Huanyang nodded, and Sheng Zhao also responded, thinking to himself that even if Zhang Jian asked him to get closer, he wouldn’t dare to.

Although it was called a “forbidden area,” it was actually just a small hilltop. When Sheng Zhao got closer, he could see clearly what the so-called “Origin Mirror” was.

It wasn’t a real mirror, but a large stone that had been split in half. The cut surface of the stone resembled jade but not jade, like some kind of liquid that could flow, moving on the vertical surface in a way that defied the laws of physics, emitting a faint glow.

Xing Yingzhu and Zhang Chengde were already standing on both sides of the stone. Xing Yingzhu was holding the golden chain and slowly feeding it into the Origin Mirror. His expression was slightly cold, as if he hadn’t noticed their arrival.

Sheng Zhao didn’t dare to disturb him and pulled Hu Huanyang to the side.

The Origin Mirror accepted the chain cordially, and just as Sheng Zhao was wondering about the working principle of this thing, he saw a very fine golden thread extend from the mirror, gently winding around Xing Yingzhu’s wrist.

Immediately after, both Xing Yingzhu and Zhang Chengde were stunned.

“Did the chain come from the big boss?” Hu Huanyang whispered in a low voice, puzzled. “It shouldn’t.”

Sheng Zhao was also stunned at the words. He had discussed this matter with Xing Yingzhu for a long time before. Could it really be a part of his bones? At that time, Xing Yingzhu had said it with absolute certainty. Although he felt some faint breath on it, it had nothing to do with him, otherwise he wouldn’t fail to recognize it.

Xing Yingzhu seemed to be thinking the same thing. He frowned, lowered his head to look at the golden chain

Xing Yingzhu’s face immediately darkened.