At nightfall, He Simu and Duan Xu took lodging in the best inn in Fujian City. To protect He Simu from evil ghost disturbances, Duan Xu stayed in the same room with her—naturally, he slept on the floor while He Simu took the bed.

Duan Xu removed his veiled hat, finally revealing his true form in the human world. As he spread his blanket on the floor, he remarked, “Since you have no sense of touch, isn’t it a bit of a waste for you to sleep on the bed?”

He Simu lay on the bed and replied languidly, “With such audacity, isn’t it a waste for you to be human?”

Duan Xu immediately grinned and closed his mouth. After finishing his preparations and returning, he saw that He Simu had already fallen into a deep sleep, hugging a pillow.

Originally, evil ghosts neither slept nor dreamed, but during the period of exchanging senses with Duan Xu, He Simu would fall asleep at regular times every night.

Several times before, he had secretly watched her while she slept and noticed that she always hugged something, as if she needed to hold something to sleep soundly, just like a child.

Duan Xu blew out the lamp in the room, and moonlight filled the space. He sat on his “bed,” propping his chin and watching the sleeping He Simu. Her face was half-buried in the bedding, in a posture that seemed slightly evasive yet comfortable.

She was indeed very pale, like white porcelain, making her features and black hair appear even darker—like ink and cinnabar on white paper, bewitchingly beautiful.

Being so beautiful and having lived for so many years, she must have had many lovers. Would this Ghost King be like an emperor in the human world, with a harem of consorts?

Thinking of this, Duan Xu slightly narrowed his eyes. With mischief, he reached out to pull the pillow from her arms, moving it left and right until he finally succeeded in extracting it, and casually placed it on his bed.

In her sleep, He Simu furrowed her brow, her hand searching the bed as if trying to find her pillow again. Duan Xu lowered his gaze to watch her fingers moving across the pristine bedding, gradually approaching his arm, and finally resting warmly upon it.

He didn’t avoid her touch.

Indeed, her fingers, having found his single-layered sleeve-covered forearm, assumed they had found the pillow and pulled it towards her.

Duan Xu bent forward following her pull and saw that her brow had relaxed as she peacefully hugged his arm. He thought that if He Simu were to wake up now and see this scene, once she regained her powers, this arm of his might truly be forfeit.

But Duan Xu was not one to quit while ahead.

He was the type to push his luck.

He lay prone at He Simu’s bedside, watching her. Her movements had revealed her face fully from the bedding, presenting it completely before him.

“He Simu…” he called her name softly.

Naturally, she didn’t respond.

“He Simu…”

“He Simu…”

He called her three times with varying intonations, but she didn’t wake from her slumber. So he smiled and said, “If I wanted to kiss you, you wouldn’t kill me, would you?”

“Hmm, you have no powers now, but if you settle accounts in the autumn… does that mean I only have eight days left to live?”

Duan Xu slowly moved closer to He Simu, gazing at her sleeping face.

“Simu,” he called, slowly enunciating each syllable.

It wasn’t clear whether he was calling her name or expressing his feelings.

This utterance of “Simu” made He Simu furrow her brow and slowly open her eyes. She seemed to have just awakened from a dream, her gaze not entirely clear as she looked at Duan Xu so close to her, as if unable to distinguish between reality and dream.

The moonlight traced an arc of light in the eyes of the person before her. His eyes were round with slightly upturned corners, like clear, bright jade, resembling a youth of utmost innocence and sincerity.

He Simu murmured vaguely, “These eyes are so beautiful.”

“Want to collect them too?”

“Eyes need to be… alive to be beautiful.”

“…I see, then you must let me live well.”

Duan Xu smiled gently, and those bright eyes closed as he leaned slightly forward to kiss her. A very light, shallow kiss, bringing with it the clear fragrance of his body, like flowers blooming after spring rain, transferring from his lips to hers.

He Simu’s eyes were open. She was stunned for a moment before truly waking from her dream and realizing what had happened.

Duan Xu was kissing her.

Little Fox Duan… was kissing her!

This wasn’t just taking liberties—this was crossing all boundaries!

She narrowed her eyes, about to react, when she saw the fearless offender suddenly open his eyes, with a glint of alertness in them. Duan Xu moved away from her, draped his black outer robe over her, and made a gesture of silence.

He Simu was enveloped by the fragrance from his clothes. She looked at him coldly, and before long, she saw suspicious figures appear outside the door. After a slight rustling, the door was pushed open silently.

It was a group of people in black, looking like mortal assassins.

Duan Xu and He Simu exchanged glances.

These assassins, about twenty or so, seeing that both Duan Xu and He Simu were awake, immediately switched from stealth to open attack, drawing their weapons and rushing forward without a word.

Duan Xu sighed and said, “I don’t like killing people without explanation.”

He moved nimbly among the assassins, lightly blocking several swords with his scabbard. His dual swords were unsheathed, flashing silver as he moved like the wind in circles, slitting the throats of those who came close. The only one who attempted to ambush He Simu was run through from behind by his sword.

In an instant, blood splattered everywhere. This sudden assassination attempt lasted only the blink of an eye before Duan Xu wiped his swords and sheathed them.

Killing had always been what he excelled at most.

From the room full of corpses, bright lanterns rose, like fireflies from decaying grass, flickering with light before disappearing into the night sky outside the window.

Duan Xu turned to look at He Simu and smiled, “Bright lanterns rising, stars moving in reverse—so this is how death appears to evil ghosts.”

However, He Simu didn’t smile. She got down from the bed, wearing his black outer robe, and stared into his eyes as she walked toward him step by step. The atmosphere was dangerous and tense.

Duan Xu stood his ground without avoiding or dodging. When she stood before him, he said casually, “This room is now so dirty, it’s uninhabitable.”

He Simu stared at him expressionlessly for a moment, then suddenly averted her gaze and walked toward the corridor. Duan Xu was taken aback and turned to ask her, “Where are you going?”

He Simu’s steps paused, but she didn’t turn back, only saying flatly, “Didn’t you say the room is uninhabitable? We need to ask the innkeeper for another room.”

Duan Xu was silent for a moment, then smiled and followed her, saying, “How can we let Your Highness run errands personally?”

In his imagination, she should have been angry, threatened, or punished, but she didn’t. She behaved as usual as if his kiss had been just an illusion.

This nonchalant attitude of glossing things over was quite puzzling. It didn’t seem like tacit approval either. Perhaps she truly decided to settle accounts with him later.

Would those eight days truly mark his death after all?

He Simu told the innkeeper she had encountered bandits, so they changed rooms that night. The next morning, the owner of the inn personally came to check on the situation.

The inn’s owner was none other than Master Yilier.

When the innkeeper came to He Simu’s room to report Master Yilier’s arrival, He Simu had just ordered a table full of fragrant delicacies. Seeing the innkeeper, she smiled and said, “I’ve smelled enough of this aroma, but I can’t eat it all. Take two plates for yourself.”

Duan Xu, wearing his veiled hat and invisible to people, smiled, thinking she was quite generous with his money.

The innkeeper had no time to eat, anxiously saying that the master had learned about last night’s bandit attack at the inn. Before he finished speaking, the wealthy master whom He Simu and Duan Xu had seen earlier entered with several servants, walking at a measured pace.

The innkeeper immediately prostrated himself in obeisance, saying, “Master.”

He subtly signaled to He Simu, whispering, “This is Master Yilier! Kneel and pay your respects!”

He Simu glanced at Yilier indifferently, with no intention of leaving her seat. She said in the Huqi language, “Master, would you like to sit down and eat with me?”

The innkeeper’s signals became so frantic his eyelids were twitching.

The bells at Yilier’s waist jingled softly as he looked at He Simu and then at the evil ghost beside her whose face was hidden by a veiled hat. The evil ghost very politely stood up from his seat and moved to the side, making a welcoming gesture.

Yilier was somewhat surprised. All the evil ghosts he had encountered before were haughty, and this was the first time he had seen such a courteous one.

Yilier waved his hand, dismissing the innkeeper and his servants. After examining the young woman and the evil ghost for a while, he walked over to sit next to He Simu, saying, “My inn has failed to take proper care of you, miss. This meal is nothing. If you like, I can order the best cooks in the city to prepare another feast for you.”

He Simu rested her chin on her hand and laughed softly, “Failed to take care? I think the care was excellent. Sending so many people to keep me company in the middle of the night was truly a surprise.”

Yilier caressed his jewel-encrusted golden belt hook, showing no embarrassment at being exposed, and instead laughed generously, “You travel with a ghost, miss. How could those people possibly harm you?”

“Is that so? Master Yilier must have thought that if they killed me, it would just be the death of a foreign commoner, and you wouldn’t worry about settling the matter. And if they couldn’t kill me, you’d take the opportunity to probe my background.”

“Hahaha, why must you put it so unpleasantly, miss? I’m merely curious. People have always nurtured small ghosts, and this is the first time I’ve seen someone nurturing an evil ghost in adult form.”

As he spoke, his gaze shifted to the man beside them, who seemed to chuckle softly.

Duan Xu thought this was truly an interesting scene—a living person mistaken for an evil ghost, and an evil ghost mistaken for a living person.

He Simu shook her head and said, “Who says I nurture him? I am the master and he is the servant; I command him.”

Yilier showed surprise on his face. In all ghost nurturing, the relationship had always been with the ghost as master and human as servant, yet here was a method of reversed roles. His eyes slightly darkened as he smiled, “By what method do you command this evil ghost, miss? Would you be willing to transfer this evil ghost to me?”

“You want my ghost? I’ve heard you nurture the Xu Ghost Palace Master. One person cannot serve two ghosts—I can’t let my ghost steal the Xu Ghost Palace Master’s person.”

He Simu picked up her chopsticks and casually took some braised pork to her mouth.

It smelled truly delicious but tasted of nothing.

She said, “What’s the matter? Could it be that Master Yilier has also heard that the Xu Ghost Palace Master has committed a crime and wishes to abandon him?”