Why Is The Demon Lord Unhappy? - Chapter 5

The first thing Gu Jingmo did after emerging from the dirt was to enter the cave dwelling aggressively.

She was tall with long, straight legs, and her stride was much longer than Huang Tao’s, so she naturally walked ahead of Huang Tao.

As she moved, she walked with a commanding presence, her tattered sleeves fluttering, giving her an imposing air, like a soft, inky butterfly that was fierce yet gracefully arriving.

Every part of this woman was strange, and only her imposing manner and posture occasionally revealed that she was, in fact, a Demon Venerable.

Upon entering the cave dwelling, she first assessed Xuan Song from head to toe, clearly concerned but feigning indifference. Only after confirming that Xuan Song was unharmed did she ask, “Was it you who buried me in the dirt?”

The pit was dug so neatly, the soil was packed so solidly and was so difficult to dig out, and even the flatness of the soil surface was commendable. Moreover, he hadn’t forgotten to garnish the earth by her head with a few intact flowers and plants.

In a place of lush trees and abundant grass, amidst a riot of colors, the tender grass swayed in the wind, repeatedly lashing at Gu Jingmo’s face, which she couldn’t avoid even by craning her neck.

This kind of earth element control ability could only belong to Xuan Song, who possessed a single earth-element spiritual root.

Instead of using his excellent earth element abilities for good, digging a pit and burying his Dao companion was certainly his specialty.

Xuan Song was originally sitting in meditation to recover his energy. He didn’t open his eyes at this moment but answered with a non sequitur: “Put your clothes on properly.”

Gu Jingmo lifted her sleeve to look at it and muttered, “What’s wrong with showing this little bit? Aren’t we going to be seeing each other like this in the future?”

Xuan Song, who was originally holding the ‘Lotus Initial Bloom’ hand seal for cultivation, clenched his fist to suppress his rising temper upon hearing this, and reminded her again, “Put your clothes on.”

Huang Tao followed her into the cave and took a new spell robe from her storage bag, handing it to Gu Jingmo.

She reached out and took the spell-robe. This was a low grade robe, which couldn’t be directly replaced using spiritual power, and required putting it on manually.

She stood in the cave dwelling and unselfconsciously took off her tattered spell robe and put on the new one, all the while muttering, “Low grade spell robes really aren’t that good.”

“When I hunt more, I’ll buy you a good one,” Huang Tao said while helping Gu Jingmo dress, demonstrating her utmost diligence.

Cultivators have excellent hearing. Xuan Song could clearly hear the rustling sound of her taking off and putting on clothes. For some reason, the sight of her crystal clear skin he had seen last night reappeared in his mind, like a pesky little imp circling him.

He could actually imagine what it would look like when the spell robe brushed against such delicate skin, and he immediately felt his ears grow hot.

This female devil was too unrestrained. How could she be so unreserved in front of a man?

Gu Jingmo finished changing her clothes and approached Xuan Song again. She crouched down and asked in a less than friendly tone, “Hey! Kid, you haven’t answered my question yet. Was it you who buried me?”

Kid?

He was seventeen hundred years older than her.

Xuan Song answered concisely, “You were improperly dressed, so I could only resort to that.”

“But you still shouldn’t have buried me.”

“Heaven and Earth as one’s robes.”

“Hea… Heaven what?”

“Returning to the Primal Source.”

What nonsense was that?

Gu Jingmo turned around, drew her low grade sword, and fiercely declared, “Today I’m going to kill you and then bury you.”

Just as she approached, Xuan Song opened his eyes and looked at her, his gaze as calm as an undisturbed ancient well.

The moment their eyes met, her steps faltered. Looking at his extraordinarily handsome face, she tightened and then loosened her grip on the sword, swallowing the fierce words back down her throat: “Don’t do it next time.”

Huang Tao was just about to cheer, but Gu Jingmo’s attitude suddenly changed, leaving her momentarily stunned: “Eh?”

Perhaps afraid that her words lacked authority, Gu Jingmo immediately yelled another sentence: “Did you hear me, you brat!”

Xuan Song: “…”

“If you don’t answer, I’ll take it that you know you were wrong, and this will be the last time.” After speaking, she used a manipulation technique to put her sword back.

Huang Tao looked blankly at Gu Jingmo, then at Xuan Song, thinking that this was a matter between Dao companions, and it wasn’t appropriate for her to interfere, so she went to check on Gu Jingmo’s physical condition.

After confirming that Gu Jingmo was fine, only suffering from spiritual power depletion, Huang Tao hurried out: “I’ll go find the spiritual beast I hunted and prepare it to sell at the market. You two should focus on recovering. Is there anything you need me to bring back?”

“See if there are any cheaper flying artifacts.”

“Okay!” She said, then quickly ran out of the cave.

Xuan Song’s gaze followed Huang Tao out.

Huang Tao was now speaking very fluently. Although she couldn’t fully comprehend human thinking, she could perfectly adapt to the human living environment.

She was petite, with a lively, girlish hairstyle, and a few unruly strands of hair at the ends bounced along with her body as she ran, full of spring.

The goose yellow spell robe she wore was also of the lowest grade, and the clusters of blue bellflowers embroidered on the cuffs were of mortal craftsmanship. She was likely a regular cultivator with mixed spiritual roots, unable to truly enter the cultivation world, so she did odd jobs, making low grade but still quite pretty spell-robes.

She, too, was poorly equipped.

Aside from her good personality, what else made her worthy of being the Demon Venerable’s sole attendant?

Xuan Song still hadn’t figured it out.

Gu Jingmo really wanted to chat with Xuan Song, but unfortunately, Xuan Song completely ignored her.

She could only lie restlessly on the bluestone slab, recovering her spiritual power alone.

Gu Jingmo was always a little unhappy this day. She had finally found a suitable medicinal catalyst, one that she was particularly satisfied with, but now she could see it but not touch it.

The problem seemed to be with her.

Watching Xuan Song sitting there at his leisure, she felt an intense itch in her heart.

Xuan Song preferred quietude. Spending time idly in the cave dwelling like this, he could sit in meditation and recover his energy calmly, neither restless nor impatient.

He always sat with his shoulders open and his back straight, possessing an absolute, distinct temperament.

Having been used to the lazy demeanor of those in the Demonic Dao, seeing Xuan Song, this meticulously proper Immortal Venerable, was indeed somewhat novel, leading her to lie on the bluestone slab and stare at him for a long time.

Around midnight, Huang Tao finally returned to the cave dwelling.

Gu Jingmo was originally enjoying staring at Xuan Song, but she abruptly sensed something. As soon as Huang Tao returned to the cave, she reached for her low grade sword, subtly on alert.

When Huang Tao was showing her the spirit stones she had earned, Gu Jingmo raised her hand to stop her, remaining silent as she investigated.

Xuan Song’s divine sense swept lightly, and he also became aware of the situation.

Huang Tao had been followed.

In the cultivation world, murder and the seizing of treasures were commonplace. Many cultivators dared not show off their artifacts when they were weak, lest they invite a fatal calamity.

Huang Tao didn’t have anything valuable on her, so being followed by several people meant one of two things: either they thought Huang Tao was alone and an easy target, and these few people weren’t particularly strong themselves, or they were after Huang Tao herself.

The cultivators tailing them seemed to know they had been discovered. After all, anyone with a higher cultivation level than their current one could easily notice being swept by a divine sense.

Both Xuan Song and Gu Jingmo currently had Foundation Establishment cultivation, but there was a Core Formation cultivator among the followers.

Seeing Gu Jingmo’s vigilant posture, coupled with the fact that the few people confirmed there were only three Foundation Establishment cultivators, they no longer concealed their tracks and walked out openly. Huang Tao also noticed this.

She looked at Gu Jingmo in panic.

Gu Jingmo was not flustered. She walked out calmly and said, “Let’s see what they intend to do.”

“Mhm.” Huang Tao held Gu Jingmo’s sleeve and followed her out, her slightly-gripping fingertips showing pink, and even the tips of her hair showed a telltale sign of nervousness.

When the two of them walked out of the cave, the five followers were already waiting outside the entrance.

The man in the lead was seven feet tall, with a leopard’s head and hawk eyes. From his sturdy physique and the artifacts in his hands, it was clear that he was a body cultivator.

Unlike sword cultivators, alchemists, and other cultivators, they did not use weapons and primarily relied on their fists during combat.

The other four were male Foundation Establishment cultivators, who also appeared to be body cultivators. Their gaze openly assessed Gu Jingmo as she walked out.

They had thought Huang Tao was already an exceedingly beautiful woman, but upon seeing the magnificent and dazzling Gu Jingmo emerge, several of them were momentarily stunned and couldn’t help but feel a little surprised.

Such an enchanting and breathtaking appearance would be outstanding even in the cultivation world. Her eyes held the shimmering waves of a lake, beautifully clear, with ripples fragmenting, as the undulating landscape reflected in the water.

Then there were her richly red lips, which, when parted, looked like crushed crimson cherries, full of fragrance.

The man in the lead didn’t look at her much. He asked in a loud voice, “May I ask which sect and school fellow Daoist belongs to?”

“None,” Gu Jingmo answered calmly. Despite the obvious “power gap” between the two sides, she didn’t seem to care.

“Do you have a Dao companion?”

“Yes.” He’s sitting in the cave dwelling, though we haven’t dual cultivated yet.

The leading Core Formation man couldn’t help but feel disappointed. He turned back to his brothers and said, “She has a Dao companion.”

Another male cultivator followed up with a question, “Then what about the little girl in yellow just now?”

“What about her?” When Huang Tao was mentioned, Gu Jingmo’s tone was no longer so friendly.

The man answered with confidence, “My brothers are all unmarried and are looking for Dao companions. They’ve taken a liking to the little girl just now.”

Gu Jingmo rejected them directly, “You are not worthy.”

The Core Formation body cultivator turned back and muttered to his brothers, “She says you’re not worthy, so should we forget it?”

The others were also a bit conflicted: “But we can’t have followed them all this way for nothing…”

The man nodded in agreement, then growled heavily at Gu Jingmo, “Then let’s just rob you. Hand over all your spirit stones and artifacts.”

Xuan Song, sitting in meditation in the cave dwelling.

A not quite normal Demon Venerable meeting not-quite-normal bandits was certainly unique.

Huang Tao had been hiding behind Gu Jingmo, peering out with only her eyes showing.

Hearing that they intended to rob them, she quickly sent a message to Gu Jingmo via spiritual transmission: “Demon Venerable, please don’t fight them. Your spiritual power is unstable, and you might get hurt. Plus, every time you use spiritual power to fight now, you suffer intense pain it’s too torturous. Let’s just give them our things. I was the one who attracted them, and I’ll earn it back later.”

“These things can’t be prevented; it’s not your fault,” Gu Jingmo replied, then threw her sword to them.

Following suit, the two of them also tossed their storage bags toward the bandits.

The five men gathered around, looking at the items they had been handed, and instantly felt they had been tricked.

Even without sect support, a cultivator at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage shouldn’t be so poor.

They had never seen a novice cultivator at the Qi Refining stage as destitute as this.

“Are you messing with us?!” The man threw the low grade sword to the ground.

“That’s all we have.”

“Do we look stupid?”

“Mhm.” Correct.

A simple nasal acknowledgment instantly infuriated the five cultivators.

“Hurry up and hand over your vital swords and other items, or the person will meet the same fate as this sword.” The Core Formation body cultivator was also quick tempered. He threw the low grade sword to the ground and stomped on it, breaking it.

As expected of a Core Formation body cultivator, the force of that stomp, if applied to a person, was imaginable.

The other four cultivators cheered at the sight of the stomp, seemingly also stunned by his might.

Unexpectedly, Gu Jingmo actually laughed, raising an eyebrow to ask, “Is that how you rob people?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Gu Jingmo couldn’t be bothered to explain.

“You don’t seem scared of us. Do you think that little Foundation Establishment brat hidden in the cave can ambush us?”

“Him? Just a pretty face, useless in a fight. I’m not counting on him to ambush anyone.”

Xuan Song: “…”

The Core Formation body cultivator walked toward the two women and said, “Since you are so uncooperative, we’ll just have to take you by force.”

The man reached out, attempting to bypass Gu Jingmo and grab Huang Tao, but before he could get close, his wrist was seized.

The fingers gripping his wrist were delicate and slender, seemingly soft and jade like, yet they were extraordinarily strong, preventing his hand from moving even an inch further.

This kind of wrist strength stunned the man. This robust man with the nose of an eagle and the eyes of a hawk was actually restrained by a woman.

Gu Jingmo was usually lazy, but when facing an enemy, she was anything but.

Her expression was stern. She slightly lifted her chin, lowered her eyelids, and scanned these people with disdain, her eyes revealing an undisguised contempt.

“You don’t appreciate kindness,” she said, raising a foot and kicking him straight in the chest, simultaneously releasing his wrist and sending him flying.

She did not use spiritual power; instead, she attacked them using martial arts.

What if her spiritual power was depleted? Even using only the martial arts they were most proficient in, she could defeat them all.

Her movements were fluid and seamless, like a rolling ball down a slope. Her palm strikes contained inherent vigor, and her punches landed with visceral impact.

Core Formation body cultivators were easier to deal with than ordinary cultivators. They merely infused spiritual power into their fists during exchanges, which amplified the force of their punches.

If all their punches and kicks were dodged, they would be ineffective attacks.

Her swift movement technique, combined with the martial arts she had honed in her early days, was now utilized to its fullest extent.

With a body depleted of spiritual power, she single handedly fought against five body cultivators and actually achieved a suppressive victory.

These five cultivators would never have thought that after cautiously following them all the way here and deliberately ensuring there were no other helpers before appearing, they would ultimately end up in a desperate situation of being unilaterally suppressed.

Although body cultivators were uncommon in the cultivation world, they were extremely troublesome opponents. Many cultivators preferred not to tangle with body cultivators, as they often ended up at a disadvantage.

This was also the first time they had encountered someone whose martial arts surpassed theirs, reaching a truly master level.

In less than half an hour, the five men began to beg for mercy: “Heroine, spare us!”

“Stop hitting us, we won’t rob you anymore.”

Gu Jingmo stopped her attacks, her robes swirling to create a gust of wind. Fallen leaves swirled around her body, seemingly unable to withstand the flux of energy around her, crushing into powder before they landed and scattering everywhere.

She stood in the middle of them, crossing her arms, and said, “That’s it?”

“We’ll kowtow and admit our mistake to you.”

“No need. I want to rob you,” she said with a smile, using the most beautiful expression to utter the most outrageous words.

The five men exchanged glances. Was this… a case of the thief losing his own goods?

Despite this, they still hastily handed over their storage bags.

Gu Jingmo took each one and briefly looked through them, then asked, “Don’t you have any decent flying artifacts?”

“N-no… We don’t have much wealth either. We usually just rob people and don’t run into many… No… Our opp-opportunities aren’t many…”

Gu Jingmo was not ready to give up and pressed, “Do you have any at your hideout?”

None of the five men responded.

Gu Jingmo made a “tsk” sound, walked toward one of them, and stepped on the man’s fingers with her toe: “If you don’t obediently hand it over, I’ll break his fingers. If you hesitate for one breath, I’ll break another.”

When it came to ruthlessness, none of the five men, who only dared to threaten with a sword, could compare to Gu Jingmo.

The Core Formation body cultivator quickly pleaded, “My wife and children are still at home. Please don’t scare them. I’ll go back and retrieve it for you, okay?”

Gu Jingmo thought that this man wasn’t completely terrible. Since he had a family, he wouldn’t look at her or Huang Tao any further he was just helping his brothers find wives. She softened her tone: “I only need one flying artifact, one that can carry three people.”

“That… we have, we have!”

Gu Jingmo was finally satisfied: “See? Now that’s how you rob someone.”

Then she turned and called into the cave dwelling, “Huang Tao, Xuan Song, come with me.”