The Demon King choked in the shadows.

After several thousand years, he would sometimes still be startled by this disciple’s perceptiveness. The atmosphere hadn’t even been properly set, yet she was already asking him to state his purpose directly. How awkward.

But having come this far in the conversation, he could only bite the bullet and say: “Your master wants you to go lend the Great Xia prince a helping hand.”

Ruyi stood up and walked away.

What a joke. She was supposed to help Wei Zijue on one side, and help the Great Xia prince on the other? Playing both sides—wouldn’t she be the one losing either way?

The Demon King waved his hand to stop her: “Great Xia originally worships our demon clan. Even if this matter fails, we can still have offerings. But Ruyi, you should understand—the meager offerings from the imperial family can never compare to the faith of ten thousand people. Only if Great Xia wins this battle will we never have to worry about offerings for generations to come.”

Offerings were the foundation of their survival. Put plainly, the reason she now had such confidence was that her demonic energy was abundant. But without offerings, no matter how diligently she cultivated, she would weaken day by day.

“Don’t you remember how your life was preserved?” the Demon King asked.

Images flashed through her mind of demons rushing forward one after another to shield her from lightning, and she seemed to smell that burnt odor again in her nostrils. Ruyi’s face paled slightly, and she pressed her lips together without speaking.

In her condition at the time, with all her divine bones lost, without those demons, she would have suffered far worse than just memory loss.

That was a debt she owed.

Seeing her expression, the Demon King’s demeanor relaxed: “You don’t need to travel far to Great Xia, nor do you need to kill people in battle. I’ll tell you what to do.”

There were plenty of inhuman demons in this world, which was why they were turbid and troublesome. But Liu Ruyi was different. Even after being a demon for two thousand years, she still knew right from wrong and understood gratitude.

That’s what made her more useful.

The Demon King’s expression couldn’t be seen clearly in the shadows, and Ruyi didn’t look either. She sat for a while, then stood up, walking out without a word.

Yunque anxiously followed her: “Big Senior Sister, how can you not respond to Master? Master will be angry.”

Casually extending her finger for Yunque to perch on, Ruyi said, “He won’t be angry.”

From the beginning of their transaction at the city gates, she knew the Demon King was someone who gave clear rewards and punishments. As long as she accomplished what he required, never mind not responding, even making faces at him would be fine.

Sometimes she even felt that all of them were like labeled tools in his eyes. Some had “docile and mediocre” written on them, others had “obedient and useful.”

But that was fine too. She had nothing to worry about now. Since this was a chance to repay a favor, she would do as asked.

The heavy gate closed behind her. Ruyi glanced at the demons still lurking in the darkness and nonchalantly whistled.

The demons fearfully shrank back and hid. When they emerged again, the small path illuminated by moonlight was already empty of any figure.

Ruyi obediently ate tonics at the Heavenly Immortal Tavern for half a month. Not because she was weak, but because Liu Ruyi’s body was weak. With her wish unfulfilled and frequent blood loss, without proper nourishment she would become nothing but skin and bones.

During this half month, Shen Qiyuan wasn’t idle either. First, he used his divine consciousness to completely conceal Great Qian’s troop movements, then convinced the emperor to build a defensive wall along the Nine Rivers.

With such a wall in place, if Great Xia wanted to attack rashly, it would delay them at least seven or eight days, giving Great Qian sufficient time to relay messages.

But unfortunately, just as the forced laborers for building the wall had walked from prison to the city outskirts, an accident occurred.

“These wounds don’t look man-made.” The coroner examined the body and bowed to Shen Qiyuan. “They look more like those from beasts like wild bears.”

As soon as he said this, Zhou Tingchuan shook his head: “Where would wild bears come from near Lin’an? Don’t talk nonsense.”

“But these wounds were clawed diagonally down from the person’s collarbone. That beast would have to be taller than the deceased. Among commonly seen beasts that are taller than humans, aren’t there only bears?”

Shen Qiyuan lifted the deceased’s clothing to look: “Not necessarily a beast.”

Demons could leap several zhang high, let alone a mere seven feet.

He turned to Zhou Tingchuan: “Go invite Lord Song over.”

Since getting married, Song Zhenshan had completely left the Ministry of Justice, holding only an idle position at the Bureau of Astronomy. He paid no attention to worldly affairs, wholeheartedly taking Li Zhaoying around the city for fun.

Zhou Tingchuan could guess what Lord Song’s expression would be when he went, but looking at his lord here, he still chose to ride over to find him.

As expected, he found Song Zhenshan and Li Zhaoying at a street stall on Temple Street, but unfortunately, there was also Liu Ruyi beside them.

“Miss Liu.” He smiled awkwardly.

His lord and Miss Liu seemed to have fallen out. The two hadn’t interacted for half a month. Seeing her suddenly, he found his words hard to speak.

Ruyi waved at him with light indifference. The sky-blue jade bracelet she used to wear on her wrist was gone, replaced by three thin white Hetian jade pieces that made pleasant sounds when they clinked together with the slightest movement.

She asked: “What matter brings you here, young lord?”

Zhou Tingchuan laughed dryly, gesturing with his eyes for Song Zhenshan to speak aside. Song Zhenshan was about to stand when Zhaoying pressed down on his arm.

“What words can’t this Lady Song hear?” she smiled without warmth.

Seeing his gaze fall on her, Ruyi also imitated Zhaoying’s tone: “What words can’t this close friend of Lady Song hear?”

Zhaoying nodded seriously in agreement.

Seeing this, Song Zhenshan said: “Speak directly.”

Zhou Tingchuan wiped his face, saying with resignation: “There’s a murder case on the outskirts. Our lord requests Lord Song to come take a look.”

“Oh?” Song Zhenshan turned to look at Li Zhaoying.

“Oh?” Li Zhaoying turned to look at Liu Ruyi.

Ruyi clapped her hands with a smile: “A murder case is good! Murder cases are interesting. Since Lord Shen has invited us, how could we not go?”

Zhou Tingchuan really wanted to correct her—not “us,” his lord had only invited Lord Song alone.

But glancing at Song Zhenshan, who only had eyes for his wife, he swallowed his words.

The three happily followed him onto the carriage, and along the way, they even bought cloud cakes, roast duck, fragrant drinks, and braised meat.

So while their carriage was still in the distance, Shen Qiyuan could already smell the mixed food aromas.

His face immediately darkened, and he frowned, about to go scold them. How solemn was a crime scene—how could they bring so much food?

However, just as he reached out to lift the carriage door, he met a pair of familiar long eyes.

Her gaze was enchanting, her snow-white skin lustrous. Ruyi looked up at him, the new treasure hairpin in her hair shimmering with light. She seemed stunned for a moment, but then acted as if she hadn’t seen him at all, getting off the other side of the carriage.

“Brother Qiyuan?” Zhaoying also saw him, asking in puzzlement: “Why are you personally opening the door?”

Song Zhenshan followed behind, looking at him deeply before smiling: “Must be a coincidence. It can’t possibly be a telepathic connection.”