In the inn,
He Heng hesitated for a moment.
“I’m calling you,” he said.
The best course of action now was to play dumb.
But obviously, Yan Qing’an wasn’t buying it. He stubbornly looked at the other person and said, “I’m not called ‘Ayu’.”
He Heng instinctively avoided his gaze, looking up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, trying to change the subject.
“I didn’t say ‘Ayu’, did I? I clearly said—”
In the gap between his words, Yan Qing’an noticed that his tail was raised. It really didn’t look like he was lying at all.
“Said what?”
He Heng stammered, “I said, ‘It’s okay, ah ah~ I’m here, Master.’ You misheard. I didn’t call ‘Ayu’.”
But in the instant he said this, his tail uncontrollably swayed like a tambourine.
“Oh,” Yan Qing’an stared at his tail, raising an eyebrow. “You didn’t say?”
He Heng lowered his head, looking into the other’s eyes, and replied unequivocally, “No.”
However, before the words had even settled, his tail “popped” and swayed again.
He Heng grumbled discontentedly in his heart,
I hate this!
Why wouldn’t this tail listen to him?
In frustration, he angrily slammed his tail against the bed.
Seeing that Yan Qing’an’s attention was now entirely drawn to his tail, He Heng decided to act spoiled. He swept his tail onto the other’s back, causing the whole person to feel ticklish.
With He Heng’s playful antics, Yan Qing’an’s focus was immediately diverted. After all, who could resist a fluffy tail?
The next moment, He Heng tucked his tail into Yan Qing’an’s arms and said with a somewhat awkward expression, “Master, didn’t you say you wanted to play with my tail before?”
“There you go, have fun.”
Yan Qing’an awkwardly didn’t respond on his face, but his hands had already honestly pulled the other’s tail and cradled it in his arms.
The big gray wolf’s tail was large and fluffy, warm in Yan Qing’an’s embrace. It was so comfortable that Yan Qing’an couldn’t help but rub his face against it.
But the thought that He Heng would let others play with his tail as well brought a sour taste back to Yan Qing’an’s heart.
At this moment, Yan Qing’an suddenly felt like he had turned back into that kind of child who would argue with others and blush over snatching a beloved toy. He hugged He Heng’s fluffy tail and said,
“What if someone else wants to play with it? Would you let them?”
“No,” He Heng shook his head, looking at him very seriously,
“Only Master is allowed to touch the tail.”
After saying this, and seeing that the person in his arms didn’t respond, it seemed like his ears were a bit red.
Yan Qing’an was dressed lightly now, and he didn’t feel cold when adjusting his internal energy, but He Heng was concerned that he might get chilly. So, he spoke up and interrupted,
“Master, are you still uncomfortable?”
Upon hearing this, Yan Qing’an shook his head slightly. He released He Heng’s tail, sat up from the other’s embrace, expressed his gratitude, then readjusted his posture to start adjusting his internal energy.
The midnight had just passed, and the lights on both sides of the street had completely dimmed. There was not a soul on the road, giving no hint of the bustling and lively atmosphere that existed here during the daytime.
At this moment, He Heng and Zhou Yue were crouching near a corner next to the central square. This location, situated in the town center, served as the central hub leading to all other places.
As per their plan, the two were on duty for the first shift tonight.
While He Heng was attentively observing the surroundings, he heard a yawn from the person beside him.
Like them, several individuals from Yunjian Academy had set out early in the morning to come here, even a bit earlier than He Heng and Zhou Yue.
Although all were cultivators, staying awake until this hour inevitably led to a bit of drowsiness.
To stay focused, Zhou Yue took out his spiritual communication device and started playing with it.
This type of communication device was carved from a special material called spiritual stone, approximately the size of a copper mirror. It resembled the ancient communication symbols, and the one Zhou Yue pulled out had a red tassel hanging from it.
He activated his communication device, and a white light flashed across the surface, entering the chat interface.
The chat interface looked similar to the window of a messaging app like WeChat. The only difference was that their avatars could move, and Zhou Yue’s avatar was a selfie.
A straight-on, death angle selfie.
He Heng casually glanced at it, only to see various junior sisters from different academies populating Zhou Yue’s chat window. The only commonality among them was that none of them seemed to reply much to Zhou Yue’s messages.
At that moment, He Heng observed as Zhou Yue clicked on the avatar of a sword cultivator junior sister and swiftly composed a message. The last conversation with this junior sister looked like this:
[Evening 6:40]
[Sword Cultivator Junior Sister]: It’s getting late; I’m going to take a shower [Sleepy.jpeg].
[Zhou Yue]: Go ahead. Do you usually sleep this early?
After that, she never replied.
[Evening 9:24]
[Zhou Yue]: Finished showering?
[Zhou Yue]: I just had dinner. I’ll be going to exterminate demons later.
[Midnight 12:01]
[Zhou Yue]: I haven’t slept yet. I’m currently on guard at the street corner. Although that monster is quite troublesome, you don’t need to worry about me. I’ll take care of myself [Brave bull, not afraid of challenges.jpeg].
Noticing He Heng’s gaze, Zhou Yue didn’t avoid it and straightforwardly admitted,
“I know you might think what I’m doing isn’t great, and I admit I’ve been a bit fickle.”
“No,” He Heng shook his head,
“Someone like Hai Wang, that’s what you call being fickle and a puppy. At most, yours is just being ‘diligent’.”
Upon hearing He Heng’s words, Zhou Yue’s breath seemed to pause, experiencing a feeling of suffocation, as if a long-standing hidden ailment had been suddenly exposed by others.
Looking at the other’s calm and unruffled expression, clearly a master in matters of the heart, Zhou Yue immediately pulled He Heng closer,
“So, what do you think I should do?”
Getting advice from a master of the heart would surely lead to some useful insights.
Upon hearing this, He Heng swiftly took Zhou Yue’s spiritual communication device, turned off the screen, making it look just like an ordinary copper mirror, and said,
“Like this.”
Zhou Yue didn’t quite understand at first, “Huh?”
He Heng explained, “When you use this angle to look at the mirror, your nose will appear more prominent.”
Zhou Yue asked, “And then?”
Immediately, He Heng took the mirror, looked at his own high nose and deep eyes for a moment, nodded in satisfaction, and said, “Then it will boost your confidence, after all, confidence is the peak.”
Does he even have experience in pursuing someone?
He Heng spent his four years of college like a dog, in short, a math enthusiast’s puppy.
“Oh.”
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yue took the copper mirror with a mixture of belief and doubt, positioning it to see his own face. However, before he could admire his handsome features, his expression suddenly changed.
“Damn, what the hell!”
He Heng hurriedly leaned over to take a look. In the reflection of the copper mirror, in a corner of the street, about a few meters behind them, a strangely shaped black shadow appeared. The shadow was indistinct, like a mist, revealing only two blood-red eyes.
He immediately pressed down on Zhou Yue, who was about to stand up, and whispered, “Don’t move! Don’t startle the snake. See what it’s going to do.”
The next moment, the black shadow drifted to the center of the square. Almost as soon as it touched the ground, it rapidly transformed and moved, the black mist instantly turning into countless nearly invisible particles in the air. These particles then gathered together to form the texture of human muscles.
First, it formed an arm, then a leg, followed by the torso, and finally, the black mist distinctly transformed into the appearance of a raggedly dressed child.
The child had two big, black eyes, and despite the torn clothes, holes on the face, and smudges of dirt, both the appearance and the ragged attire were exceptionally endearing.
Both of them watched as the “child” walked step by step across the square and arrived at the residential area. It knocked on the door of one of the houses.
It knocked for a while, and finally, the door opened.
The somewhat irritated male homeowner, disturbed by the persistent knocking, impatiently pushed open the door and asked, “What is it?”
Behind him, the female homeowner carefully lit an oil lamp and tugged at her husband’s sleeve, signaling him to be cautious.
After seeing the helpless and crying appearance of the child, both of them were momentarily stunned, and the wariness on their faces weakened.
He Heng recognized the family; the man was clearly the owner of the steamed bun shop.
The child began their performance, crying and sobbing, saying, “Uncle, I’m so scared, wu wu wu.”
“The house was suddenly invaded by a black shadow just now. Mom told me to run quickly, and then, then we got separated. I don’t know what to do now.”
This was followed by another round of sobbing and crying.
The elderly couple exchanged a glance, and a noticeable softening appeared in their expressions.
“Sigh,” the man sighed, feeling a bit sympathetic. After some thought, he said,
“Well, why don’t you come in first?”
Just as he was about to open the door to let the child in, a cold male voice suddenly sounded,
“Why did you run out? How many times have I told you not to play the runaway with me!”
Upon hearing this, the elderly couple was startled. Following the direction of the voice, they saw a young man with dog ears and a dog tail emerging from the corner of the street.
The young man walked to the door, took hold of the “child’s” hand, and smiled at them, saying,
“Sorry about that. This is my son.”
“It’s because I didn’t discipline him properly. This annoying child always uses the runaway play with me when we argue, and he’s good at lying to others.”
The moment the child saw He Heng, however, he started crying and struggling.
He Heng immediately tightened his grip on the child’s hand, chuckled, and said,
“Watch me, I’ll spank you until your butt blooms when we get back!”
The child immediately burst into loud crying, “Wu wu! You’re lying! You’re not my dad!”
He Heng sneered,
“I’m not your dad, then who is? Your dad is here today to capture this little demon.”
As he finished speaking, he immediately pulled out a bundle of demon-binding ropes from his sleeve. On the other end, Zhou Yue, who had been lying in ambush, had already set up an array in this area. In that instant, he activated the array, and several dazzling golden lights leaped from the ground.
The two elderly people were shocked when they heard the term “demon”. Without caring about anything else, they hurriedly retreated into their house.
In the blink of an eye, the demon-binding ropes were about to tighten around the “child”, but at that moment, the child suddenly turned into a black mist again, dispersing from the ropes. At an extremely fast speed, it darted towards the northern graveyard.
The demon-binding rope transformed into a red silk, chasing after the swirling black mist.
“Darn it, what’s going on?”
He Heng couldn’t possibly accept that the captured demon had escaped so easily. He immediately flew towards the direction the demon had gone, wielding his long sword.
Zhou Yue followed closely, shouting to He Heng,
“It disregarded the formation, forcibly escaped my Bagua Formation just now. Its cultivation must have been damaged; it probably can’t maintain such high speed for long, and it won’t be able to transform at will anymore. However, we still need to be cautious. This thing is too weird. In all my years of demon-hunting, I’ve never encountered such a bizarre creature.”
He Heng acknowledged, “Got it.”
At that moment, the two of them entered a complex and maze-like terrain, shrouded in mist.
Within the black mist, the vision of both individuals was obstructed.
But at that moment, Zhou Yue pointed behind a withered tree and shouted, “There!”
The next moment, eerie laughter echoed from behind the dead tree. Just as Zhou Yue had said, the demon was hiding there.
While chasing it, He Heng asked Zhou Yue, “How did you notice the difference there?”
Zhou Yue didn’t pause for a moment and replied, “Because what my eyes see is different from what you see. I am a demon hunter, more sensitive to demonic energy.”
During their conversation, both of them chased the demon up to the mountaintop, but the demon used its tricks again.
The moment they reached the mountaintop, a dense fog suddenly spread, disrupting their vision. Combined with the complex terrain they were in, He Heng and Zhou Yue were forced to separate.
He Heng chased the demon all the way to the edge of a cliff.
As Zhou Yue had predicted, the speed of the black mist began to slow down, and its disguise became more and more clumsy.
Seeing that the demon had nowhere to escape,
He Heng broke through the layers of mist and continued the pursuit, saying,
“Where do you think you can run to this time?”
However, in the instant the mist cleared before him, he was harshly stunned.
“My good disciple.”
The person before him had turned into the appearance of Yan Qing’an at some point. He was now wearing a white Daoist robe, holding a long sword, and there were traces of blood oozing from the corners of his mouth.
Meanwhile, inside the inn,
Yan Qing’an glanced at the time, realizing that a considerable amount of time had passed since the agreed-upon shift change with He Heng. However, the two had yet to return. He couldn’t help but feel worried. Moreover, the sensor on the bracelet the other person was wearing had been vibrating continuously. After thinking it over, he couldn’t shake off his concerns.
So, Yan Qing’an got up from his bed, took his long sword hanging behind the door, and discussed with the others. They decided that he would go out first to find the traces of the two.
Guided by the sensor, he quickly arrived at the foot of the mountain.
After circling around for a while, Yan Qing’an reached a place facing the cliff.
On the mountaintop,
He Heng, seeing the almost identical faces of the demon and Yan Qing’an, was momentarily stunned. Especially when he saw the trace of blood at the corner of the mouth, a sharp pain hit somewhere in his heart uncontrollably.
However, he quickly steadied his mind, unsheathed his sword, and swung it at the demon.
“Stop pretending! My master would never call me ‘good disciple’. He usually calls me ‘rebellious disciple’. Are you still pretending, demon?”
In the moment when the sword energy was swung, “Yan Qing’an” let out a “hehehe” laughter, leaped off the cliff, and its figure instantly dispersed, transforming once again into a swift-moving mist plummeting downward.
“Still running?”
He Heng drew his sword and chased after, simultaneously pulling out another bundle of demon-binding ropes from his sleeve, ready to subdue the monster at any moment.
He descended rapidly along the cliff with his sword, covering hundreds of feet, and upon landing, the black mist had vanished from the ground. However, He Heng spotted a familiar white figure.
Seeing the familiar wolf tail and ears, Yan Qing’an excitedly shouted, “He Heng?”
After searching for a while, he finally caught sight of He Heng’s figure, and his previously tense heart could finally relax.
But upon hearing Yan Qing’an shout like that, He Heng’s anger surged again.
This monster was still pretending!
And now, it was pretending to be his master!
Enough was enough.
He immediately sneered at the other party and said, “You are my master?”
“Then I must be your father!”
With that, he quickly bound the figure tightly with the demon-binding ropes, then forcefully pushed Yan Qing’an to the ground, making sure he couldn’t get up.
“What are you doing?”
Yan Qing’an exclaimed in pain. When he realized the strange position they were in, he protested, “Let me go!”
He Heng, still angered, replied, “Dream on! I finally caught you. Why would I let you go?”
“Still pretending to be my master, huh?”
At this moment, He Heng pinned him down, making it impossible for Yan Qing’an to move or break free from the demon-binding ropes.
Worried about He Heng’s safety, Yan Qing’an ran over only to be unexpectedly tied up by him and bombarded with incomprehensible words. Feeling a bit wronged, he insisted, “What are you talking about? I am your master.”
He Heng, showing no gratitude, retorted, “Laughable. Is this all you’ve got? Can’t you come up with something new for me to see?”
As he spoke, He Heng looked down, but he froze in place, and his words came to an abrupt halt. This monster’s disguise was just too convincing, wasn’t it?
At this moment, the restrained Yan Qing’an was tied securely with red ropes. A few strands of ink-black hair fell onto his cheeks, and the areas of fair skin visible beneath the ropes turned a vivid shade of red. This striking color contrast deeply stimulated He Heng’s visual senses. The amber eyes of the other were still covered with a thin layer of mist, and even the beauty mark at the corner of their eye was identical.
Just a moment ago, the monster’s acting skills were full of flaws. How did they suddenly manage to mimic their master’s expression so accurately?
With these thoughts in mind, He Heng did something he usually wouldn’t dare to do. He reached out and firmly pinched the other’s white and tender cheek.
The next moment, a distinct red mark appeared on the fair skin of the other. The person beneath him let out a slightly aggrieved sound.
“Ouch~”
Author’s note: Haha, Wolf He is quite bold!
