Chapter 86 : The Dangerous Demoness

Chapter 86: The Dangerous Demoness

More than five years ago, Long Tao, not yet thirteen, went with his father and Steward Liu to the Nine-Xia Heavenly Sect to prepare for the entry examination.

At the gate of the residence, among the female relatives who had come to see him off, the only one crying so hard her tears fell like pear blossoms in the rain was neither his mother nor his sister, but the maid who had grown up with him—Xiao Ying.

“Wuu… wuu… Young Master,” Xiao Ying sobbed, clutching tightly at Long Tao’s sleeve as tears fell like beads from a broken string.

“Why can’t I go with you…? Xiao Ying can take care of you…”

Looking at the girl crying her heart out in front of him, Long Tao’s own heart turned sour.

“I—I want to take you too! But if I go, at most I’ll just be a menial disciple. Sect rules are strict, there’s no way to bring family members along. Don’t worry… with your Young Master’s brilliance and talent, in at most two or three years, I’ll definitely rise to the Outer Sect! When that happens, I’ll buy a big, spacious, well-lit house near the sect and bring you—no, bring our whole family over to enjoy life!”

Yet just as his bold declaration ended, Long Tao’s mother, who had been standing calmly behind Xiao Ying all this time, could not help letting out a sigh, her tone full of helplessness.

“Ah… if it weren’t for your looks and that glib tongue just like your father’s, I’d almost suspect you weren’t really our child. Where does this inexplicable confidence of yours even come from? It’s truly baffling.”

“Is that something a real mother should say?!” Long Tao immediately exploded, pointing at himself.

“Your only biological son is leaving home today! Going to an immortal sect means we won’t see each other for at least several years—can’t you at least pretend to look reluctant to part with me?”

“You’re going to the Nine-Xia Heavenly Sect, not some Burial Sword Cliff or the Wuyi Sect. What do I have to worry about?” Long Tao’s mother rolled her eyes at him, her tone as flat as if she were commenting on the weather.

“Being a menial disciple there is still better than being an Outer Sect disciple in many small sects. It’s just that with your Five Spiritual Roots aptitude, we spent quite a bit of money pulling strings to get you in. Sigh… it’s just strange to me—given your aptitude, why are you so stubborn about cultivating immortality? Wouldn’t it be better to stay home with your parents, and when the time comes, marry a proper girl, or wouldn’t Xiao Ying be fine? We know her background inside and out.”

“You’re the strange ones!” Long Tao was practically losing his mind.

“Our family of four—every single one has spiritual roots! Mother, you even have Four Spiritual Roots! Yet in the entire family, I’m the only one who wants to enter an immortal sect! What kind of family in the world is like that?!”

Yet his mother only shook her head and said,

“Your mother has seen too many elders in the clan chase after that illusory immortal path, wasting their lives in suffering, only to end up as nothing more than a pile of yellow earth. That’s why your father and I came to Qinglin Town and lived happily and freely for half our lives.” She sighed, looking at her son with complicated eyes.

“Anyway, with your aptitude, by the time you’re eighteen or nineteen, you should more or less come to terms with reality and accept your fate. When you come back then, it’ll be just right—Mother will arrange blind dates for you, and we’ll wait to hold our grandchild.”

“Young Master!” Hearing this, Xiao Ying immediately lifted her tear-streaked face and grabbed Long Tao’s hand anxiously.

“When you come back, you must marry Xiao Ying! You absolutely can’t… can’t go to the sect and get dazzled by those True Persons or those beautiful senior sisters and junior sisters, and forget about Xiao Ying!”

Standing beside Xiao Ying, Long Tao’s younger sister could not help but snort with laughter.

She took out a handkerchief to wipe Xiao Ying’s tears while eyeing her brother with a look that clearly enjoyed the spectacle.

“Relax, Xiao Ying. With my brother’s qualities—no talent, and as for looks… well, okay, since he takes after me, they’re not bad. But a place like the sect has plenty of good men. What woman would look twice at him?” As she spoke, she tapped Xiao Ying’s forehead with a mixture of pity and frustration.

“Sigh, look at you—so pretty and clever, yet your taste in men is terrible. Why are you so dead set on my brother of all people?”

“B-but I heard the storytellers at the teahouse say, and it’s written in those storybooks too…” Xiao Ying sniffled as she argued back, her logic oddly clear.

“In the sect… there are always bad demonesses who specialize in draining men’s vital yang! Even if no one genuinely fancies Young Master since he’s kind of foolish, his vital yang… his vital yang is still fresh! Those demonesses… they might set their sights on him!”

Listening to his mother, his sister, and Xiao Ying talking over one another, Long Tao seemed to foresee a “bright future” where his cultivation failed, he fell victim to a demoness, and finally slunk back home to marry and have children.

The veins on his forehead throbbed in anger.

“That’s enough, all of you!” the boy finally snapped, shouting in protest.

“Can’t you hope for something good for me for once?!”

……

The memories from more than five years ago quickly faded.

Back in the present, Xiao Ying had just pushed open the courtyard gate when she saw, at a single glance, the scene she least wanted to see.

A demoness! A huge, huge demoness! Huge everywhere!

Over the years, as Xiao Ying grew older, she had come to understand more about relations between men and women, as well as the sect’s ecology.

She knew clearly that those lofty Golden Core True Persons in the sect, and those proud, beautiful senior sisters, would definitely look down on her Young Master.

At best, only some junior sisters who were young and inexperienced like herself might be temporarily fooled by his slick tongue.

She also knew well that her Young Master actually had clear boundaries in this regard—at the very least, he would never harbor improper thoughts toward a little girl like herself who had not yet grown up.

After all, his taste was clearly of the True Person Mingzhu variety—a woman who had lived for several hundred years yet pretended to be young!

However, what suddenly barged into her sight at this very moment was a scene completely beyond all her expectations.

A… golden, rather large spider! Yet its upper body was that of a seductive, golden-haired demoness! Truly demonically alluring!

That waterfall of straight golden hair cascading down dazzled the eye, making even the Rakshasa Race women Xiao Ying had once seen in town pale in comparison.

And those six eyes—frightening at first glance, yet on closer inspection possessing a strange, exotic beauty.

Most crucial of all was that utterly outrageous figure, so curvaceous it shattered imagination—those curves, that chest, that waist… was that something a human could even have?! Oh right… she really wasn’t human—the lower half of her body was a giant spider.

“Xiao Ying! Why are you here?” Long Tao’s voice carried unclouded delight, as if he had not noticed the invisible sparks that instantly filled the air.

“Come in, come in! Perfect timing—I’ll introduce you. This is Daoist Friend Luo Yusi. She’s helped me a lot recently. She just made quite a few dishes—come eat together!”

He warmly beckoned the stunned Xiao Ying inside, then naturally introduced her to the curious Luo Yusi.

“Daoist Friend Luo, this is Xiao Ying. We grew up together… um, she’s basically family. She was just taken in as a Personally Transmitted Disciple by True Person Zhiying. Impressive, right?”

“Ah! So you’re the one True Person Zhiying just accepted as a personally transmitted disciple!” Upon hearing this, all six of Luo Yusi’s eyes lit up at once.

Her upper body leaned forward slightly in excitement as she expressed friendly amazement.

“I’ve heard about you! You’re amazing!”

As she moved, those overly imposing curves swayed along with her, delivering such visual impact that Xiao Ying, who had just walked closer, once again stood dumbfounded, her mind buzzing.

Th-this was too demonic! The danger this demoness posed to Young Master… was immeasurable!

Xiao Ying’s gaze instantly sharpened, like a food-guarding little beast, locking firmly onto that enormous golden-haired, spider-bodied threat.