Chapter 109: Unrestrained Indulgence

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Shangguan Chuci left the woodshed, and Lu Chenyan carefully put away the black egg once more.

Before departing, she gave one last instruction:

“Tomorrow, before dawn breaks, you must rise early. I have a special offensive Dao technique that needs to be passed to you before your new neighbors awaken.”

Lu Chenyan recalled his surprise at the time and asked, “Miss Chu, why do you act so furtively, as if you were a thief on the beam?”

Unexpectedly, she gave a sly smile, her eyes gleaming with mischief, and said earnestly, “Brother Lu, you don’t realize that in the eyes of those three, you are now a capricious and wicked fiend. You can’t lose your disguise so quickly. Otherwise, where will I find my entertainment?”

Remembering her expression then, Lu Chenyan shook his head with a wry smile.

This Miss Chu was no ordinary figure; though she bore none of the haughty airs of a noble family scion, her conduct was unconventional and refreshingly intriguing.

Even the new phrases she frequently uttered were astonishingly apt.

For example, the phrase “losing one’s disguise” initially sounded odd, but upon reflection, likening a false identity to a garment that could be shed at will was surprisingly fitting and vivid.

“Such unheard-of language—could it all come from her strange dreams? How curious, what kind of world must that be…”

As he pondered this, the images from that night, when he bit into her shoulder amid his haze, flickered through his mind: towering jade pavilions that reached the heavens and massive mechanical beasts in endless motion.

Those scenes rivaled his own absurd dream of “a sword slashing the sky.”

He even sensed that this peculiar and alien realm possessed a more splendid and extraordinary beauty than any celestial palace.

“Though I suspected she was a girl all along, when she finally revealed her identity herself…”

“Well, before she ‘lost her disguise’ as she called it, I must still address her as Miss Chu. It’s not so bad, though I fear that once I get used to it, changing back might be awkward.”

He indulged in these idle thoughts before shaking his head and laughing at himself.

Such matters were for later; with the current turmoil unsettled, it was wiser to safeguard his own life.

The young man returned to the bed and sat down, his gaze shifting to the wooden doll beside it.

Perhaps it was his imagination, but he felt the doll’s painted eyes move, as if it had been unnervingly watching him since his conversation with Shangguan Chuci. Now that he noticed again, the doll seemed to retract its gaze.

He picked up the doll, gently stroking it, and said:

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“When Miss Lin extinguished the lights just now, you didn’t come out to cause trouble. Was it because you heard what I said? That’s negotiable... Rest assured, what I promise, I don’t break.”

He bit his fingertip, drawing a drop of bright red blood and lightly applied it to the doll’s lips.

The blood seeped instantly into the cracks at the corners of the wooden mouth, tinting the fissures with a deep crimson that contrasted eerily with its innocent smile, making it all the more uncanny.

...

Cheng Xiaoshan tossed and turned restlessly.

He was already uneasy due to the strange atmosphere of the inn, but now the images he glimpsed earlier haunted his mind.

“Ah, what a pity, truly a pity,” he sighed inwardly. “That pure and innocent Lin Envoy has fallen victim to that fiend’s cruelty, her chastity defiled and cast into the filthy stream. The world has truly turned upside down; there is not a shred of justice left!”

His sorrow and anger grew, making sleep impossible.

Suddenly, footsteps echoed on the corridor.

“Who could that be now?”

Startled, Cheng Xiaoshan sat up swiftly and crept to the door, peering through the small notch he had carved earlier.

What he saw stunned him.

On the hallway appeared none other than the exquisitely handsome Miss Chu.

She was ascending from downstairs, her face even paler and more delicate than most women’s, still flushed with a faint rosy glow that hadn’t yet faded. Her steps were unsteady, as if exhausted from a fierce battle.

Cheng Xiaoshan’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Could it be... that this charming lady also came from the woodshed in the backyard?!”

His mind shattered with that possibility.

How else could he explain why Miss Chu returned so late at night, and why she looked so... frail?

He dared not continue watching, quickly withdrawing his gaze and leaning against the cold door, staring blankly at the waning moon outside.

“So... so terrifying…”

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He muttered, “That young man seemed so honest and simple, yet he is truly a beast in human guise…”

“Lin Envoy was bad enough, but now even this lovely lady isn’t spared…”

“To think they are both embraced by him, enjoying the favor of one man—a beauty and a charming lady. I have seen this with my own eyes; who knows what other tricks the unseen have in store…”

“But... this is exactly how a lamp keeper should be! Such a demon, who dares to feast on living flesh and blood, what is there in this world that they cannot do?”

Though he thought thus, his heart churned in turmoil.

He could not tell whether he felt resentment or envy.

The young woman from the Demon Suppression Division was still very young, but clearly a beauty in the making. Given a few years and some refinement, she would rival the noble daughters of the imperial capital, Luoyang.

And Miss Chu was extraordinarily handsome, her bearing noble and refined—undoubtedly from a top aristocratic family—yet willingly submitted beneath that fiend.

Within the Tide-Viewing Inn, from the mysterious Miss Chu to the Demon Suppression Envoy Lin, all seemed to be the captive playthings of Master Lu.

His senior brother and sister were now trapped in this den of wolves. One misstep in angering that unfathomable old devil could soon see them turned into human dumplings laid out on the courtroom table.

“I must not act rashly from now on, no matter what—I must not anger that demon…”

Cheng Xiaoshan muttered anxiously, suddenly worrying about his junior sister, who was also a girl.

“Fortunately, the Dao transformation on my sister is quite evident and unsightly. Even that lustful old devil should hesitate to touch her…”

“No, that demon cares not for such distinctions—he takes both men and women alike…”

“Though my sister suffers the Dao transformation, she still has a beautiful foundation beneath it all. To that lecherous youth, perhaps these ugly afflictions add a certain allure…”

At this thought, Cheng Xiaoshan gasped in horror, unaware of what he would do if that demon truly laid hands on his sister.

Even more terrifying was the possibility that the demon had designs not only on his sister but also on himself, planning to cook both siblings together in the woodshed.

What could he do then?

His worries deepened, his dread and torment intensifying.

Unconsciously, his insomnia worsened yet again.