NHWSG chapter 77

“By the way, it’s been a long time since anyone asked me who I am, it’s a bit novel,” the woman said nonchalantly, shaking her head. “Since the little friend asked, I’ll tell you, my last name—”

“Call her Seventh Princess,” Xing Yingzhu interrupted, turning to Sheng Zhao. “You won’t lose out.”

Sheng Zhao blinked in confusion, slowly connecting the dots in his mind. From Xing Yingzhu’s attitude, he could sense something unusual.

—Xing Yingzhuo held a high position in the metaphysical world. If the skeleton incident was true, she might even be a bit more formidable than Xing Yingzhu.

Several keywords merged in Sheng Zhao’s mind, making him shiver involuntarily. He subconsciously looked at the woman referred to by Xing Yingzhu as “Seventh Princess.”

She fed a peeled melon seed to the green sparrow on her shoulder, lazily glanced at Sheng Zhao, and a hint of amusement flashed in her eyes. Although she seemed friendly and approachable, Sheng Zhao couldn’t shake off the feeling of goosebumps.

It was a subtle feeling. He was usually laid-back and had never felt such a clear sense of danger, not even when he saw Xing Yingzhu turn into a snake before his eyes. But now, facing an ordinary girl, he couldn’t shake the thought that she could kill him without even using a knife.

This feeling was conflicting. Sheng Zhao’s rational mind couldn’t understand what was terrifying about the person in front of him, but his physiological response was constantly warning him.

“You’re really protective, Yingzhu,” the woman said, chuckling as she brushed the melon seed crumbs off her fingertips. The green sparrow on her shoulder hopped from her left shoulder to her right, affectionately rubbing against her face.

“You previously got your hands on something of mine,” the woman said, opening her hand. “Now you can return it to me.”

“You think you can just ask and I’ll give it to you?” Xing Yingzhu said. “Fine, you can, but bring my thing in exchange.”

The woman wasn’t angered by his retort. She smiled with her eyes slightly closed, her hand still outstretched in the air, her attitude gentle but resolute, without a hint of doubt.

Xing Yingzhu remained silent. Sheng Zhao looked left and right, feeling the atmosphere in the room suddenly drop by two degrees, sending a chill down his spine.

“Is… is it that armor?” Sheng Zhao, afraid that the two would start fighting out of the blue, hurriedly tried to mediate. “Yingzhu wouldn’t just take someone else’s things for no reason. Maybe you’ve got the wrong person, and what if it’s not yours?”

“Sheng Zhao,” Xing Yingzhu called out.

The woman seemed to find something amusing, her smile widening slightly. She turned her head with a good-natured expression and looked directly at Sheng Zhao.

“Little friend, I know everything in this world,” the woman said softly. “For example, at this very moment, the first spring rain has fallen over Tianmu Lake; a jar of precious wine was spilled in the Western Sea, causing turbulent waves; a small stream twenty miles west of Kunlun Mountain has just begun to thaw, with a piece of ice falling into the water—”

The woman’s voice was gentle and clear, like telling a bedtime story, but Sheng Zhao’s hair stood on end, and goosebumps covered his body.

“Oh,” she said softly. “On Yishan Mountain, the lingzhi tree that just turned 326 years old has also been picked by a young man… what a pity.”

Sheng Zhao subconsciously turned his head to look at Xing Yingzhu, hoping to solicit some advice from him to confirm that the woman was just speaking nonsense to scare him.

But Xing Yingzhu, with half-closed eyes, remained unusually quiet and didn’t speak.

A chill ran down Sheng Zhao’s spine as he discerned the answer from Xing Yingzhu’s reaction.

It was probably true. Otherwise, Xing Yingzhuo would have already started mocking her.

Sheng Zhao realized he was too inexperienced. “Knowing everything in the world” sounded light and casual, but in just a few words, he sensed the terror within.

He couldn’t imagine what kind of terrifying CPU it would take to process information so quickly and efficiently.

“Well… let’s assume it’s true,” Sheng Zhao said reluctantly. “But that thing has been in the museum for so many years. You didn’t come to take it, so it shouldn’t be urgent.”

The woman’s smile faded slightly. She squinted at Sheng Zhao for a moment, making him feel uncomfortable. After a while, she suddenly clapped her hands and laughed, then turned to Xing Yingzhu.

“Your little friend is quite brave. He dares to do anything for you,” she said.

Xing Yingzhu’s lips curved into a smile, and he stretched his legs, pulling Sheng Zhao closer.

“Envy won’t do you any good,” Xing Yingzhu said. “This already belongs to me.”

Sheng Zhao: “…”

How inappropriate! The proxy head of the family angrily thought, “Is this the time to show affection?”

“Enough with the jokes,” the woman said. “Your little friend is quite clever. I’ve come to you this time to ask for a favor.”

“What?” Xing Yingzhu asked.

“There’s been activity in the Forbidden Sea Abyss,” the woman said. “I can’t go, so I’m asking you to go.”

“No,” Xing Yingzhu flatly refused. “Why should I do something for you?”

The woman’s smile faded, and her gaze turned somewhat cold.

Sheng Zhao’s heart skipped a beat. He knew Xing Yingzhu had always been like this, but facing someone with an unknown background and seemingly powerful, Sheng Zhao was afraid he might anger her and suffer.

If a fight broke out, Sheng Zhao even doubted he could beat the bird on her shoulder.

—Who knows where it came from.

“I… I think,” Sheng Zhao stopped Xing Yingzhu and nervously suggested, “Let’s be peaceful about this. Since you want my boss to do something for you, let’s compromise. You return my boss’s things, and the enmity can be resolved. Then, it’ll be easier for you to ask him for help.”

Sheng Zhao spoke rapidly, as if he would lose his nerve if he slowed down. He felt like he could immediately become a United Nations peace ambassador on the spot.

I’m really worried for Xing Yingzhu, Sheng Zhao thought.

But to his surprise, the woman raised her eyebrows and said, “Who told you that I became enemies with him because I stole his stuff?”

Sheng Zhao was slightly stunned.

“I did steal it, but ask him if he resents me for it,” the woman continued.

Sheng Zhao turned to Xing Yingzhu with a puzzled expression, but Xing Yingzhu pulled him back.

“Foolish kid,” Xing Yingzhu sighed wearily, saying, “You’re really—”

This was rare for Xing Yingzhuo not to express his sarcasm. Sheng Zhao blinked, feeling that his gaze was…gentle.

Xing Yingzhu’s eyes seemed helpless and amused at the same time. He looked at Sheng Zhao as if he had a thousand words to say, but in the end, he just sighed.

“Such a fool,” Xing Yingzhu said.

Sheng Zhao: “…”

“In ancient times, it was survival of the fittest. Who won and who lost didn’t matter,” Xing Yingzhu said coldly, crossing his arms. “Back then, if you were inferior, you deserved to die. There’s no point in holding grudges.”

Sheng Zhao became more confused as he listened. “But…”

“Hasn’t he told you about his background?” the woman glanced at Xing Yingzhu teasingly. “In ancient times, there were two dragon clans. The Ying Dragon was the leader of all beasts, and the Zhu Dragon ruled over all immortals. The two clans intermarried, and the last dragon born from their union happened to—”

“Are you done?” Xing Yingzhu interrupted her with a cold expression. He pursed his lips and said reluctantly, “I won’t go. Leave.”

“Aren’t you really going?” the woman teased.

“No—”

Before Xing Yingzhu could finish his refusal, the woman suddenly said something.

The tone was strange, unlike any dialect or foreign language Sheng Zhao had ever heard. It sounded more like some ancient language…It had a sense of mystery, as if it pierced through the curtains of history and arrived here.

Sheng Zhao didn’t understand the encrypted message, but he saw Xing Yingzhu’s momentary daze.

After the woman finished speaking, she seemed convinced that this meeting was over. Without waiting for Xing Yingzhu’s response, she stood up on her own and walked out.

Sheng Zhao still had the thought of “building a good relationship with the big shots,” subconsciously stood up, took a few steps out, and escorted her out of the door.

“Take care, little friend,” the woman said with a smile. “It seems like you’re very worried about me harming him?”

Sheng Zhao nodded, telling the truth, “A little.”

The woman didn’t explain anything further and didn’t say anything else. She looked deeply into Sheng Zhao’s eyes, devoid of joy or sorrow, yet filled with something unknown.

In that moment, Sheng Zhao felt as if she had seen through his entire life with just one look.

“In this world, everything must be balanced. Humans have their rules, and demons have theirs. The so-called rules are just a means to maintain balance,” the woman said. “As long as we don’t break these rules, I won’t interfere with anything.”

Sheng Zhao heard an implied meaning in her words—once he or Xing Yingzhu violated the “rules” and disrupted the “balance,” she wouldn’t be so lenient anymore.

“But in this world, everything can be exchanged for something else.” The woman’s tone changed as she said, “As long as you can afford the price, you can have whatever you want.”

Sheng Zhao was slightly stunned, not sure if he was being presumptuous… but he always felt like the woman was hinting at something.

“Of course, Yingzhu’s temper should indeed change,” the woman shrugged helplessly. “If it were me when I was younger, today—”

The woman pursed her lips, embarrassedly smiled, and swallowed the rest of the inappropriate words.

She pressed the elevator button, and after hesitating for a moment in his mind, unsure if it was the woman’s good temper that made him relax a bit, Sheng Zhao’s hidden curiosity began to resurface.

“So… Yingzhu said you’re his old enemy,” Sheng Zhao whispered. “Ying Dragon and Zhu Dragon, may I ask, which clan are you… enemies with?”

The woman stepped into the elevator, turned back at his words, and smiled very modestly at him.

“Only a mere person like me, has enemies.”