Chapter 122 – A Martial Demon and a Lass
After going through the east gate of Martial Demon Town and walking for a short distance, a vast open land entered Xue Qilin’s eyes.
Several houses are scattered on this land.
The fields constituting this land are filled with rice ears and are arranged quite neatly. In the fields, you can see water channel built in order to dispatch the irrigation water back and forth. At the source of the water channels – a brook that extends from Martial Demon Realm, there is a waterwheel rotating about.
This agricultural land probably serves to satisfy Martial Demon Town’s basic necessities. No matter where you go, food is always a basic human necessity.
Speaking of which, this is the first time that Xue Qilin has seen the fields of this world.
“Let’s go for a stroll?”
“Um… okay…”
The voice sounds listless. Phecda seems sleepy.
While walking along a path between the fields, the sound of stepping on sand raises into the air, and the nearby brook plays the well-known symphony “flowing water”, which are accompanied by the smell of rice mixed with the smell of cow dung.
The rice ears are swaying in the wind, the sky is tall and clear.
Immersed in the embrace of the nice sunny weather, Xue Qilin couldn’t help stretching herself and yawning.
She would love to find a place to take a nap! However, if she does this, it will surely invite reprimands from the landowner for crushing the crops.
Several farmers working in the fields lifted their heads and looked at her. The surprised expressions on their faces appear to ask “where did this girl come from?”
Xue Qilin gave them a sweet smile, and then continued on her way.
The already drowsy Phecda almost fell off Xue Qilin’s head due to not securing herself firmly.
“Yo yo yo, I don’t care if you fall!”
“… boo, I’m sleepy.”
“If you change back to the sword form, I will carry you!”
Anyway, the weight is the same. Xue Qilin mused.
“Don’t want to. Won’t I be unable to move?”
“What do you need to move for when sleeping…”
“In short, I don’t want to!”
Xue Qilin spread her arms to express her helplessness.
“Boo…”
Insufferable! Phecda groaned, fuming.
Her gaze inadvertently moved to the slight opening in Xue Qilin’s collar. Phecda saw two faintly discernible bulges, and in idea immediately popped up in her mind.
Phecda climbed down from the top of the lass’s head, landed on her shoulder, and then drilled into her clothing from the collar.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
The furry thing moved around her chest area, causing Xue Qilin’s face to flush.
After apparently finding the most comfortable position, the head of the black cat popped out of the collar
“I’m going to sleep!”
Leaning her head on Xue Qilin’s collarbone, Phecda closed her eyes.
“Get out of there!”
“I don’t want to!”
Xue Qilin grabbed the black cat by the nape and tried to pull it out, but the other side grabbed the inside of her dress with its hind paws, not coming out.
During this standoff, the two unwittingly came to a corner of the fields.
This is already the edge of Martial Demon Realm.
The deep forest is right in front of them.
So big! Xue Qilin looked up at the tall trees and sighed emotionally. Whether you look left or right, you cannot see the end of the forest. It seems as if there is only this forest in the world.
“… Okay, I won!”
There was a sudden burst of cheers.
Hmm? Xue Qilin turned her head to look and saw two petite figures squatting beside a large rock.
It is a pair of children, a lad and a lass, who look very young, maybe less than 10 years old.
When she saw their faces clearly, Xue Qilin was dumbfounded.
The lass is just a plain human girl.
As for the lad…
He has a pair of canine ears on top of his head and a hairy tail extending from a hole in his pants at the waist.
Obviously he is a martial demon, an irregular martial demon to boot. If he has cultivated his human form, he would not be unable to sense Xue Qilin’s presence.
Whether it is the lad or the lass, they don’t have the ability to surprise Xue Qilin that much. But the two appearing to get along very well, talking and laughing together, it is another matter. After all, since the black market auction, Xue Qilin believes that the harmonious coexistence between martial demons and humans is very rare.
“I lost again…”
The martial demon lad said sullenly. In contrast, the lass appears elated.
There is a circle delimited with stones on the ground between the two, and there are a few small, finger-sized stones in the circle.
It should be a game similar to playing with marbles, and the lad seems to have lost to the lass.
Curious, Xue Qilin walked over.
“What are you playing?”
Frightened by the sudden question, the two jerked as if caught doing a prank.
The two stiffened their bodies, not moving for a while.
“Did I scare you? I don’t mean you any harm.”
After finally drumming up her courage, the lass turned her head stiffly and stared at Xue Qilin alertly.
What’s wrong? Xue Qilin tilted her head. Do they think they have met an evildoer?
“Hey, they seem to be afraid of you!”
“That so? Maybe they’re afraid of you.”
Phecda has an expression of astonishment on her face. Xue Qilin murmured in a low voice.
“Were you called by the villagers?”
“What?”
Xue Qilin tilted her head.
“Nothing…”
The lass heaved a long breath and patted her chest.
“I thought you were called by the villagers!”
Villagers? Xue Qilin looked around. So this is a village?
“However, judging by your stupid appearance, you don’t look like a martial practitioner!”
Like a small adult, the lass put her hands on her hips and looked Xue Qilin who is not much taller than herself up and down.
Stupid, stupid appearance…? Xue Qilin couldn’t react to the other party saying that she looks stupid for a while.
Let it, let it be! Nothing good will come from bickering with small children! Enduring the urge to enter a confrontation, Xue Qilin asked, the corner of her mouth twitching, “To be so afraid of being discovered by the villagers, did you do something bad?”
She just asked out of curiosity.
“We… didn’t do… anything.”
That’s totally unconvincing! Xue Qilin raised her eyebrows at the lass’s lack of confidence.
At the same time, Xue Qilin found that the lass has aimed a glance several times at the lad who has shrunk behind her.
So that’s how it is… No wonder they are playing in such a remote corner! Xue Qilin sighed.
The villagers probably do not welcome martial demons. The lass knows that if the villagers find her playing with a martial demon, she will most likely be reprimanded. And so she is afraid of being discovered by the villagers.
“Since you are this afraid, then why do you insist on playing with him?”
“I… I’m not afraid!”
The lass is obviously a stubborn one.
Unlike adults, the faces of children betray their inner feelings. They are much franker.
“Please don’t blame Little Jade… it’s my fault, I shouldn’t have come to her to play with.”
The young martial demon behind the lass suddenly walked out from behind her, spread his arms, and blocked in front of Xue Qilin in an attempt to protect the lass behind him.
Only that his legs are shaking unreasonably.
Do I look like a bad person? Xue Qilin rubbed her nose awkwardly.
“She… she is my only… only friend, please don’t blame her!”
He shouted the second half of the sentence.
Friend? Xue Qilin ruminated this word and looked at the lass called Little Jade. She’s probably just a naive child who hasn’t yet been influenced by society, and so she made friends with a martial demon.
“Puppy, what are you saying! This witless girl wasn’t called by the villagers!”
This lass called me witless! Xue Qilin almost fell over.
“She, she was not?”
The boy called Puppy meekly turned his head to look at Little Jade.
“Of course not!”
Little Jade dragged Puppy to her side, and then uttered while peeping at Xue Qilin: “My father said that martial practitioners have three heads and six arms. Does she look like she has three heads and six arms? At best she’s good-looking… Besides, look at her pretty appearance. I may not be her match.”
What nonsense did her father teach her? Why didn’t he teach her not to judge a book by its cover? Xue Qilin pouted and ranted secretly.
“Hey, I’m talking to you, girl!”
Xue Qilin widened her eyes and pointed at her own nose.
“Did you call moi?”
“What strange way to address yourself [1]!”
The lass crossed her arms and showed a scornful look.
Xue Qilin pouted, and then grabbed Phecda by the nape and shoved her in front of Little Jade.
“Little girl, do you want me to let my cat bite you?”
“Wow, what a cute kitten!”
Little Jade grabbed the black cat from Xue Qilin by the armpits and raised it high above her head.
“That, that’s true!”
Puppy poked the black cat’s belly with a hand probingly. Yet in the next moment he opened his eyes wide, took a few steps back, and plopped with his butt on the ground from fright.
“Wow, what a feisty kitten! It can even glare!”
Little Jade hugged the black cat with one hand and stroked its head with the other.
Phecda looked at Xue Qilin pitifully, asking her for help.
Xue Qilin mouthed silently “endure it for a moment!”, immediately after which Phecda puffed up her cat cheeks.
“I don’t want to! Let go of me!”
Phecda broke free from Little Jade’s embrace and landed gracefully on the ground.
Time seems to have stopped for a moment.
“It, it talked! The kitten talked!”
Little Jade pointed at the black cat in disbelief. Puppy was so scared that he hid behind Little Jade again.
“Ha-ha, you heard it wrong!”
Xue Qilin touched the back of her neck and laughed.
Unexpectedly Phecda turned to look at Xue Qilin and grinned.
“I am not a kitten!”
Then the black cat glowed all over.
There was a sudden gust of wind in the surroundings.
Numerous specks of light appeared out of thin air and converged into several streams of light composed of spiritual qi rotating around Phecda.
The spiritual qi spiraling around Phecda blurred her figure, and then gradually contracted and depicted the outline of a lass.
Along with the crisp sound of glass falling on the ground, the light exploded and scattered.
Amid the scattered specks of light, the black cat is nowhere to be seen. Instead, there stands Phecda ho has already transformed into her human form.
“My name is Phecda, I’m not a kitten!”
Specks of light flutter in the wind like shards of glass.
Phecda stuck out her chest and spoke proudly.
She didn’t notice that the two children are scared to speak and Xue Qilin standing aside rolled her eyes.
[1] – Xue Qilin used the final particle 咩 (mie), which is a final particle that transforms statements into questions that indicate doubt or surprise (Cantonese), in the previous sentence. I used the French moi (I) here and changed the phrasing to revolve around Xue Qilin addressing herself in a strange way that should more relatable
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