The night pearls in the bedchamber glowed softly.

Liu Shuang said, “Mountain Lord, I’ve undoubtedly trespassed, but I’m merely passing through your esteemed domain. I’d be grateful if you could accommodate me. I’m willing to exchange precious treasures.”

She paused, “Or the Mountain Lord can name a condition, and I’ll strive to fulfill it.”

These words were what she had prepared before coming, and they hadn’t changed despite the other party being Yan Chaosheng.

But precisely because the other party had changed to Yan Chaosheng, Liu Shuang felt uncomfortable.

She thought there must be something wrong with the Demon Lord’s mind. In her previous life, she had loved him desperately, yet he never showed any affection for her, instead treating her with coldness and contempt.

That’s right, he had also maliciously enjoyed watching her cry.

But in this life, she hadn’t even been kind to him, even wanting to kill him at first, yet somehow he had inexplicably fallen for her.

The Demon Lord’s snake-demon-like peculiarity was rare in the world.

If not for Kung Sang’s spirit meridian nearing depletion, Liu Shuang wouldn’t have minded feeding the hawk with her flesh to appease the future Demon Lord before her.

Humoring him to make him happy wouldn’t be of great consequence.

She wanted Kung Sang to be well; as long as Kung Sang was safe, she could disregard everything else. For now, she had no time to spare. His matter had to be postponed, relegated to second place. First was the spirit meridian beneath the Weak Waters.

At this moment, Yan Chaosheng had not yet answered her. A female demon moved at his leg, peeling a purple grape from the jade plate beside them, and with a coquettish voice, offered it to Yan Chaosheng’s lips.

“Mountain Lord, don’t be angry over someone of no concern. Let this concubine feed you grapes.” It was the one called Nian Yi, a female demon with initiative.

Nian Yi’s fragrant shoulders were half-exposed, her eyes full of affection.

Liu Shuang couldn’t understand what he was trying to do and decided to wait and see. If he had “transferred his affections,” changing his taste these past few days to prefer butterfly spirits or these kinds of women… that wouldn’t be impossible.

After she returned with the spirit meridian, couldn’t she just find a bunch of such women to send to him, making amends more simply?

Having thought it through, she simply watched them, noting Yan Chaosheng’s current “new” preferences, to see if there was still hope for redemption.

As the grape reached his lips, Yan Chaosheng stiffened, instinctively looking at Liu Shuang’s reaction. She stood not far away, with several demon generals guarding her. Her gaze swept over the three female demons, then returned to him, thoughtful.

She showed neither anger nor jealousy.

This made the heart of someone who had been struggling, clinging to a thread of hope, grow increasingly cold. Were all her kindnesses toward him… false?

She didn’t care if he was with Mi Chu, nor did she care if he was intimate with others.

He mechanically ate the grape, bitterness filling him to the core, his mouth tasting only sourness. If she had shown even the slightest annoyance or displeasure, that remnant of hope in his heart would have revived from the ashes. He could have overlooked everything Chi Shui Chong had done to him.

He could have even forgiven her for causing his cultivation to be destroyed when she was naive.

He remained unwilling to accept it. It couldn’t all have been false. If she had absolutely no feelings for him, there would have been no need to treat him well, to warm him, to save his life.

So under Liu Shuang’s gaze, he continued, lifting Nian Yi’s chin.

Nian Yi was delighted. Her thoughts were deeper than the other two female demons, and she was bolder. Since entering this palace, she had been trying to figure out the Mountain Lord’s preferences.

When they were alone, the Mountain Lord had wanted to send them away.

Now, with many people watching, the Mountain Lord didn’t reject her intimacy. Many powerful demons had secret preferences unknown to others. Nian Yi wondered if this handsome new Mountain Lord enjoyed excitement before an audience.

Nian Yi naturally didn’t mind; demons were mostly uninhibited, and she was exemplary among them.

When Yan Chaosheng lifted her chin, her gaze became softer and more coquettish, waiting for him to lower his head closer.

Yan Chaosheng, looking at Nian Yi’s face, realized that acting wasn’t easy. At the very least, he couldn’t kiss her without reservation.

He turned back to look at Liu Shuang.

She was also watching them, with an air that suggested she was just short of pulling out a brush and paper to record everything.

His heart turned completely cold.

At this moment, he finally confirmed that his feelings hadn’t been wrong. If she were with a man, he would hate the man enough to kill him—that’s how he felt about Ji Mo Shao You.

She had merely called Ji Mo Shao You’s name in her sleep, and he had burned with jealousy. Yet here he was, doing all this, and Liu Shuang showed no reaction.

Tonight, there was no moonlight in the demon palace. In the soft glow of the night pearls, she remained pure and beautiful. The night pearls cast a shallow halo of light on her clothes. The immortal maiden of ancient bloodline was ultimately an immortal; even in the demon palace, her aura remained clean and flawless.

Yan Chaosheng waved his sleeve, pushing away the female demon. He closed his eyes briefly and said, “All of you get out.”

The rich demonic energy surrounding him surged, even spilling visible purple qi throughout the palace. The female demons dared not speak, scrambling to leave in disarray.

Even Nian Yi, seeing that the Mountain Lord was in a very bad mood, didn’t dare harbor other thoughts and hurriedly walked out.

Fu Hang silently bowed and left with his subordinates.

Liu Shuang, who didn’t have the habit of watching others engage in intimacy, hadn’t seen Yan Chaosheng push away the female demon. She only heard his angry voice.

She hesitated for a moment, unsure if the “get out” included her.

Just as she was about to step out with Fu Hang, her waist was gripped, and she was pressed back against the chair.

The chair was very wide, made of cold jade, emitting a lustrous glow. Yan Chaosheng’s movements were rough and fierce; if Liu Shuang had been an ordinary mortal woman, her back would likely have been swollen and red by now.

Fortunately, she had an immortal body and didn’t feel much pain.

But his actions were truly impolite.

“Yan Chaosheng!”

She looked up to find Yan Chaosheng was not himself. The corners of his eyes were tinged with red, and the demonic energy around him was so dense he couldn’t suppress it. If she hadn’t witnessed his transformation with her own eyes, she might have thought some terrifying greater demon was about to emerge.

He was trembling slightly, his body cold as ice, a certain part hard as iron, increasingly overlapping with her memory. Liu Shuang stiffened, understanding his current situation. Meeting his gaze, she said, “Let me go.”

Yan Chaosheng didn’t move. He was like a person whose beliefs had shattered, his face ashen, having burnt himself out, desperately dragging others to hell with him.

Unfortunately, that person was Liu Shuang.

The cold jade chair was spacious. He pressed her beneath him. The young woman hadn’t concealed her true appearance; on her forehead was a mark, a natural blue feather flower, her beauty unmatched.

“Didn’t you say that if I set a condition, you would strive to fulfill it?” Yan Chaosheng’s fingers tightened, almost embedding her slender wrist into his palm. He simply stopped concealing, “Anyway, you already know. Liu Shuang of Chi Shui, I want you to stay by my side. Can you do that?”

His body sank slightly, pressing very close to her.

Liu Shuang’s pupils dilated slightly. She remained silent, her fingers conjuring blue-green light that struck his shoulder.

Yan Chaosheng had no defense against her. He let out a muffled groan and fell from the cold jade chair. Liu Shuang was surprised; the immortal technique she used was very ordinary. Having absorbed the Qing Ying Jade, he shouldn’t have been unable to avoid it.

Unless he hadn’t been defending against her at all.

Liu Shuang sat up on the chair. The chair was very tall, and although her figure was slender, now that Yan Chaosheng had been knocked down by her, he could only look up at her.

Liu Shuang thought for a moment and said, “Not now. I’m in a hurry to go to the Weak Waters. Please accommodate me.”

Yan Chaosheng covered his shoulder and looked up.

Blood seeped through his fingers, his eyes reflecting her image. She showed no panic. Even after he had said such things, she still wasn’t angry.

Yan Chaosheng looked up at her, feeling an urge to laugh out loud.

It turned out she not only didn’t like him but also didn’t care about him at all. In her eyes, he was probably no different from an object.

He knelt by the chair, looking up at her, much like how the female demons had looked up at him earlier. But now the positions were reversed, and he had become the one gazing up at that person.

He looked at her this way, demonic energy enveloping his face, his shoulder still bleeding, his true form in such pain that he could barely contain it.

The young woman sat in his chair, looking at him with confusion and alarm, as if looking at someone mentally ill.

His demon form was boiling, purple qi almost spreading outside the room. Yan Chaosheng stood up from the ground and said in a cold tone, “If you’re unwilling, then leave. The demon palace doesn’t welcome pure, undefiled immortals.”

With that, he no longer looked at her and stepped into the cold pool, allowing the ice to encase his demon form.

He thought he would hate her, but he didn’t.

He knew what kind of place the Weak Waters was. Even cold iron would melt into water there; he couldn’t let her go. Despite everything, even though Liu Shuang had never liked him, he still didn’t want her to die.

Liu Shuang temporarily stayed in the demon palace, though not in Yan Chaosheng’s bedchamber, of course.

Demon Mountain needed reconstruction, with many places available for habitation. She found a clean bedchamber and occasionally knocked on his door, asking Yan Chaosheng to open the barrier and let her through.

Most of the time, Yan Chaosheng submerged himself in the cold pool. Occasionally, he would come ashore.

However, even when he came up, he never saw her. Sometimes he would rather let the butterfly spirit, Cong Xia, in than see her.

As if she were some venomous snake that would bite. Liu Shuang couldn’t help wondering if she had truly been presumptuous and misunderstood the female demon’s meaning in the Demon Suppression Tower!

If Yan Chaosheng truly liked her, how could he “mingle” with others yet not see her?

Liu Shuang couldn’t wait any longer. After all, she had informed Yan Chaosheng, but he wouldn’t see her. Kung Sang was in urgent need, and she couldn’t just stay on this demon mountain to live out her days.

Liu Shuang went directly to break the array.

The nine Ten Commandment Rings immediately flew up to bind her. After absorbing the divine tool, her progress had been rapid. She narrowly avoided them and jumped out.

Yan Chaosheng, who had been nowhere to be seen, appeared mysteriously behind her at this moment.

His face was grim.

He immediately took action. The Ten Commandment Rings in his hand were much more formidable than when used in the array. Soon, they had her bound tightly.

“Do you think I’m dead?”

Liu Shuang defended herself, “I sought an audience many times, but you refused to see me.”

“Take her away and confine her!” Yan Chaosheng said coldly. “If she breaks into the array again, kill—” Before he could finish saying “kill without mercy,” he cut off his words. “Watch her carefully. Don’t let her approach the barrier by even one step.”

Lao He appeared from somewhere, smiling viciously, ready to take charge of Liu Shuang.

He had been waiting to take revenge for a long time, but the Mountain Lord had never expressed an opinion, so he hadn’t dared act rashly. Now he finally had his chance.

Unexpectedly, Yan Chaosheng said, “Fu Hang, you watch over her.”

Fu Hang accepted the order, “Yes.”

With that, Yan Chaosheng left. Liu Shuang stared at his retreating figure. His body still carried the dampness of the cold pool, clearly having rushed here in haste.

Unwilling to see her, yet as quick as a ghost’s shadow when she tried to break the array.

She had given him the Qing Ying Jade, and now the Ten Commandment Rings were in his hands. She felt some regret; she had truly lifted a stone only to drop it on her own feet.

Fu Hang confined her within a palace chamber.

Because of the Ten Commandment Rings, they didn’t believe she could escape, so the guard wasn’t particularly strict.

Liu Shuang had knocked on his door the past few days, figuring out the times when Yan Chaosheng descended into the cold pool. Counting the hours, shortly after he entered the cold pool, her lips curled slightly upward. Behind her, with a click, the Ten Commandment Rings unlocked.

This time, Yan Chaosheng couldn’t possibly come again, unless he truly didn’t care about his life.