Chapter 27
Lin Queli felt that it was more practical for him to name the discipline ruler. He didn’t use his sword often, but the ruler was often needed.
He would name it “Seeing Green on Hand.” He was very satisfied.
(TN: A pun. “Jian shou qing” (见手青) is a type of poisonous mushroom that turns blue-green when touched. It also sounds like “seeing green on my hand,” a reference to bruising.)
Lin Queli carefully took out the discipline ruler. You can hit me, but you can’t hit me with a frozen ruler!!
Seeing Lin Queli hold out his hand, looking at his own ruler with caution, Helan Xue sighed heavily.
“Do you know where you went wrong?”
Lin Queli blinked. “Because… I didn’t cultivate?”
“Have you ever thought that by being so lazy and not cultivating, you are just idling away your time?”
“I’m not idling away my time…” Lin Queli scratched his head. “I think eating delicious food every day is very interesting!”
“…”
After a moment of silence, Lin Queli said consciously, “I know I was wrong.”
Helan Xue: “Hand.”
Helan Xue held Lin Queli’s wrist and flattened his palm.
Lin Queli looked up and met those golden eyes, as deep and silent as a pool. Seeing Helan Xue raise his hand, he immediately bit his lower lip and closed his eyes.
Smack!
The ruler left a red mark on Lin Queli’s wrist. Helan Xue said, “This is to warn you to cultivate diligently.”
After being hit, Lin Queli immediately pulled back his burning hand and held it, looking at Helan Xue with a wronged expression. “Oh…”
Lin Queli gently shook his hand.
Sob, sob, sob, it hurts.
Fortunately, the points were in hand, which was enough consolation.
But…
Lin Queli looked at Helan Xue with some curiosity.
Like Lin Luo, he had no parents since he was young and had always lived with his relatives. When he was young, he often heard others say how much their parents nagged them, and he had also heard of being scolded often, but he had never had such an experience. How was it that he was now being scolded by Helan Xue!
So strange!!!
Lin Queli resentfully returned to the soft couch. Seeing that Helan Xue didn’t say anything after hitting him, he pretended not to know and rolled himself into the quilt. The hand that had been hit was still throbbing with pain. He stuck his hand out of the quilt to let the wind blow on it, and the red palm fell into Helan Xue’s eyes.
Lin Queli thought to himself, anyway, I’ve already been hit today, so not cultivating… should be fine, right?
Maybe I should just fall asleep quickly!
Lin Queli immediately pretended to be asleep.
—And then he really fell asleep while pretending.
Helan Xue looked at Lin Queli before him. He could tell at a glance that this child had not learned his lesson at all and was just trying to muddle through. He could only shake his head.
…
The next day, everyone set off to track down the tree demon. Lin Queli happily followed behind Helan Xue, ready to sit back and enjoy the fruits of others’ labor.
Before heading to the suburbs, Lin Queli didn’t forget to buy himself breakfast.
After buying several hot meat buns in one go, Lin Queli noticed Helan Xue’s gaze from not far away. He coughed dryly and tried to rationalize his gluttony. He asked the owner of the bun stall, “Old sir, I’d like to ask you about something.”
“Hmm?”
“Old sir, have you heard about the tree demon causing trouble in the city recently?”
“Of course I have. It’s been a big deal,” the old man said. He glanced at the slender man before him. Judging by his veiled hat and clothes, he didn’t seem to be a local…
The old man then smiled. “But you’re a foreigner, so you don’t have to worry too much. Just don’t be alone at night, or go to the suburbs, especially the south district! I heard that there have been traces of the tree demon there.”
“Oh… thank you!”
Just as Lin Queli was about to leave after asking, a gust of wind blew, and a corner of Lin Queli’s veiled hat was lifted.
The old man saw the face hidden under the veiled hat and was stunned.
Lin Queli quickly reached out and pressed the veiled hat down. He was about to turn and leave when he was stopped by a young man. The man said with a smile, “Young Master is asking about the tree demon. I happen to have some news. Is Young Master interested?”
“Hmm?!”
“Young Master, come with me to the suburbs. I’ll show you the so-called tree demon.”
“Okay!” Lin Queli turned his head, about to call Helan Xue to go with him, when he saw that Helan Xue had come to his side at some point.
Helan Xue stood in front of Lin Queli, blocking him, and said to the man in an icy tone, “No need.”
The man probably didn’t expect Lin Queli to have a companion. Before he could react, he was scared away by Helan Xue’s aura.
Helan Xue turned around. “Do you know who that person is? Don’t you find it abrupt and suspicious?”
Lin Queli’s eyes widened. “Ah? Could he be the demon disguised as a human that Brother Qiansui mentioned? Then Shizun, let’s hurry and chase…”
Helan Xue grabbed Lin Queli’s hand to stop him from running.
Lin Queli said anxiously, “He’s getting away!”
Helan Xue said coldly, “He’s just a mortal, but you’d help count the money even if you were sold.”
Seeing Lin Queli’s confusion, Helan Xue said, “That person saw your face under the veiled hat and wanted to trick you into going to an uninhabited place to do something improper to you. He also had a drugged wet handkerchief hidden in his sleeve.”
Lin Queli’s eyes widened.
Ah??
Lin Queli patted his chest. “Thank goodness Shizun was here…”
I told you, you have to rely on Shizun when you’re out!
Helan Xue frowned.
He had told Lin Queli so bluntly about that person’s intentions, yet Lin Queli was still all about his Shizun, as if it were not a big deal to him.
Helan Xue said with a straight face, “When you are out, you must pay attention to your safety and be vigilant.”
Lin Queli said with a grin, “But aren’t I with Shizun? It’s fine as long as Shizun protects me.”
“Shizun cannot protect you forever. This is not an excuse for you not to cultivate.”
Lin Queli thought to himself, the original Demon Lord was extremely wary of others because of his furnace cauldron constitution, but I don’t need to be. I also don’t need forever. I won’t be here forever. All I need is to grab hold of Shizun during this time.
But he didn’t know how to say it, so he blinked and said, “This disciple was wrong.”
Then he rolled his eyes and said, “Shizun can punish me again tonight!”
Helan Xue closed his eyes.
As long as he gets spanked, he doesn’t need to cultivate.
As long as he gets spanked, he can rely on me.
Thinking of the red mark on Lin Queli’s palm last night…
Why can even getting spanked be considered a bargaining chip?
Helan Xue thought to himself, this child is a natural furnace cauldron. Perhaps no one has ever told him how to live with dignity on his own. He has no one to discipline him, and he was plotted against like that before. Perhaps it has had an impact.
Looking at Lin Queli before him, Helan Xue suddenly felt the passage of time.
Before this, he had never had a concept of time.
Like Immortal Lord Changming, more than twenty years was just a flick of a finger to him, passing in an instant of seclusion. But for this child, it was the formation and shaping of his entire outlook on life, the twenty years he had grown up.
“Lin Luo, you will go on the next search yourself.”
“Ah?!” Lin Queli was stunned, as if struck by lightning. “Why?!”
Seeing Helan Xue turn and walk away, Lin Queli became anxious and quickly chased after him. “Shizun promised this disciple that we would go together! Don’t leave this disciple behind! Could it be because of what just happened? But that was that man’s fault, not this disciple’s…”
Lin Queli watched as Helan Xue used an illusion and disappeared in a formation.
“Shizun!! Sob, sob, sob…”
Ah, ah, ah!
Why is there no chance to appeal—
My points! My backer!
I hate Shizun!!!
Lin Queli didn’t know that for Helan Xue, as long as he had the prayer beads and the jade ring, it didn’t really matter if Lin Queli was with him or not. He could still protect him.
Therefore, at this moment, Lin Queli looked at the unfamiliar surroundings and people and took a step back uneasily.
I’ve been abandoned…
Lin Queli scratched his head. Should I go back to the inn and wait for everyone’s news? It’s not like I’m of any use out here…
【Host, have some confidence. You are the Demon Lord who has defeated a Golden Core cultivator!】
Lin Queli said uncomfortably, “What does the Demon Lord’s strength have to do with me, Lin Queli?”
【But Host… if you continue to stay at the inn, I think the Immortal Venerable will send you back to the Myriad Sword Sect in the next second. Then your points will really be gone…】
Lin Queli: “…”
That makes sense.
Now his debt was only 250 points away from being cleared. Victory was in sight!
But… sob, sob, sob.
Lin Queli still didn’t understand why Helan Xue had just abandoned him. He had clearly admitted his mistake with humility.
The more he thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt. Lin Queli thought to himself, we’ve been together for so long, but I still don’t understand Helan Xue’s eccentric and cold temper.
“Da Zhuang, does Shizun hate me very much…”
【Host, you’re being jealous, you know?】
“I’m not!!” Lin Queli’s ears turned red, and then he said, “I’m considering it for the mission! Tell me, how can I win Shizun’s favor? Why doesn’t he like anything I do… you see, if he hates me, I won’t even have a chance to get close to him.”
【How about I call the romance-seduction system next door and ask her?】
“…?”
A minute later.
【I’m back. She said to cater to his interests, and nothing else.】
Lin Queli: “Hmm?”
Cater to his interests? But what are Shizun’s interests?
【Let me think… it should be slaying demons and exterminating evil, and the common people?】
Although it sounded strange, it seemed… to be true.
【Then, Host, you can just perform well, find the tree demon, and give it to him, right?】
Although it sounded even stranger, it was also true.
Lin Queli clapped his hands. “Genius!”
Although the tree demon was terrifying, it wasn’t a big problem. In the cultivation world, injuries could be healed with a spell, and this body of his was durable.
“Then do you have any cheats you can give me to directly locate the tree demon?”
【There’s a demon-catching compass. Watch an ad for a 50% discount, a total of 5 points.】
Lin Queli: “…”
Lin Queli: “Who sets these prices? Are they reasonable?”
【Host, do you want to exchange?】
Lin Queli was in grief.
For Shizun, for more points…
“Exchange!”
While crying, Lin Queli went to the south district of the suburbs that the old man had mentioned.
After leaving the town, outside was a lush forest and an ancient road. Lin Queli didn’t know how to ride a horse, so he rented a donkey from the inn and held the demon-catching compass, looking left and right.
After looking at the barren mountains and wild ridges for a long time, and seeing that the sun was about to set, Lin Queli said angrily, “Is this 5-point demon-catching compass a fake?!”
【Impossible! The Host has experienced the store’s aphrodisiac. Was that a fake!】
Lin Queli: “…”
Lin Queli glanced at the demon-catching compass. Still no reaction.
Forget it.
It’s already very late. I’ll go back today and come back tomorrow. It’s not too late.
Just then, the last ray of sunlight disappeared.
The moment night completely fell, the pointer on the compass suddenly jumped wildly.
