Chapter 18: I'll Give You a Bed
The little demon soldier had been influenced by family teachings since childhood, pledging loyalty to the Demon Lord and upholding his dignity. He couldn't tolerate anyone staring so directly at their esteemed Demon Lord.
"What are you looking at? Do you think you can just look at the Demon Lord?" the little demon soldier barked fiercely at Xie Zhiqin.
However, Xie Zhiqin paid him no mind. Instead, he lowered his head slightly and spoke gently to Zhong Weiling, "I had a bit of a falling out with Master Tang, so it's not appropriate for me to stay there anymore. You mentioned last night that you'd be willing to take me in. Does that still stand?"
The little demon soldier had never been ignored like this before and was about to speak again when Zhong Weiling waved him off. "Enough, he can't hear you anyway. You can go back."
The little demon soldier blinked and whispered, "Your Highness knows him?"
Zhong Weiling nodded, and the little demon soldier realized he had been fierce to the wrong person. He quickly bowed to Xie Zhiqin in apology and retreated.
Zhong Weiling yawned, lazily tapping his snow-white fingertip against his ear, looking at Xie Zhiqin with suspicion.
The young disciples were confused, but Xie Zhiqin immediately understood his meaning and smiled, "I can hear."
Zhong Weiling: "..." So, you were deliberately ignoring our little demon soldier just now?
Zhong Weiling gave him a sidelong glance, his gaze passing over him to the disciples behind him, then stepped aside. "Come in, but keep it down. Someone upstairs is still sleeping."
The young disciples, faces still showing their youthful innocence, exchanged glances and signaled each other to be quiet, then filed in quietly.
Once all the disciples had entered, Xie Zhiqin lifted his foot to go inside, but Zhong Weiling blocked the door with his leg.
Xie Zhiqin was taken aback.
The disciples also turned back in confusion, looking at Zhong Weiling.
"What are you kids looking at? Go upstairs, turn right, there are empty rooms. Go to sleep," Zhong Weiling said with a proud tilt of his chin.
Since Chun Xiang Lou was Zhong Weiling's territory, the young disciples didn't dare to disobey and obediently lined up to go upstairs.
"Did I do something wrong?" Xie Zhiqin asked earnestly.
Zhong Weiling raised an eyebrow, "Yes."
Xie Zhiqin was at a loss, "I'm sorry, what did I do wrong?"
Zhong Weiling pointed at his mask, "I was half-asleep when you called me down, and when I opened the door, I saw your uniquely ugly mask and got scared."
Xie Zhiqin was stunned and quickly explained, "I didn't mean to, I didn't know it would scare you."
Zhong Weiling snorted, "Not intentional, so you're not responsible? My heart skipped a beat, I thought I saw a ghost."
Honestly, Xie Zhiqin's mask was really ugly, seeing it once was enough to scare anyone.
Xie Zhiqin clenched his fists nervously, "Then what should I do? Should I just leave?"
Zhong Weiling looked serious, "There wasn't a room for you anyway."
Xie Zhiqin's pupils trembled, his eyes dimmed instantly, and after a moment of silence, he said dejectedly, "Then I'm sorry for bothering you. I'll leave now, as long as you're not angry."
With that, Xie Zhiqin made a respectful gesture to Zhong Weiling and turned to leave. But before he could lift his foot, his waist was suddenly pulled back by Zhong Weiling grabbing his belt.
Xie Zhiqin looked at Zhong Weiling in confusion, wondering if he thought leaving wasn't an option and was considering some other form of punishment. If he had known, he would have chosen a slightly better-looking mask.
"Leave? Where to? A broken temple?" Zhong Weiling said with a suppressed laugh, thinking this guy was too easy to tease. Just a stern face and he was scared like a little baby. Could he be any softer?
But it was quite amusing.
Xie Zhiqin lowered his eyes, "There should be other places to stay in the city."
"There aren't. Only I have a place," Zhong Weiling said.
Xie Zhiqin frowned, "But if I'm here, you'll be unhappy."
"Then make me happy," Zhong Weiling said, tying a bow with his belt, "Take off your mask and let me see what you really look like, and I'll be happy."
Although the one-night stand was an accident, until now, he didn't even know what his one-night stand partner looked like, which was really embarrassing.
Moreover, Zhong Weiling was genuinely curious. Xie Zhiqin's chin and lips looked decent, and his build was okay. Was he really as hideous as the rumors said?
Xie Zhiqin looked at him with gentle eyes, "Do you really want to see?"
Zhong Weiling was about to nod when Wei Yuning, who had been hesitating at the staircase, turned back, "Demon Lord."
Zhong Weiling turned his head, curious, "Why haven't you gone to sleep?"
Wei Yuning rubbed the hilt of his sword, hesitating, "I just wanted to ask, is Sui Ming okay?"
Zhong Weiling was about to say he was fine, eating well, sleeping like a log, and you could hear him snoring outside his door, when the system suddenly kicked in.
[System: Ding—Triggering specific dialogue!]
Zhong Weiling was shocked. No way, why is there specific dialogue again? And why is it always when he's talking to Wei Yuning?
[System: Please recite the following sentence with full emotion—'I take care of him so attentively every night, he's naturally fine with me, but my waist is quite tired.']
Zhong Weiling: Damn, a type of plant.
"Could this line be any more suggestive?" Zhong Weiling almost exploded, "It's R-rated, you know?"
[System: Specific dialogue countdown, 3, 2, 1]
"I," Zhong Weiling gritted his teeth, forcing his facial expression to remain neutral, "take care of him so attentively every night, he's naturally fine with me, but my waist," Zhong Weiling felt like he could hear the sound of his dignity shattering, "is quite tired."
Ah! Let me die! Zhong Weiling wished he could find a hole to crawl into. Last time, it was just him and Wei Yuning, so there was no psychological burden, just awkwardness. But now, Xie Zhiqin was standing right next to him watching.
He felt like he couldn't face anyone anymore.
[System: Congratulations to the host for completing the specific dialogue, earning two IQ points. Current IQ: 52 points. Keep it up.]
[By the way, a reminder, the main storyline task "Demon Lord Reveals Ancestral Traits, Bravely Faces Danger for Love" is expected to officially start within 48 hours. The location and specific situation are undetermined. Remember to find a way out for yourself.]
"Got it." Zhong Weiling rolled his eyes internally.
Wei Yuning gave a dry laugh, "Is that so, I was overthinking. Goodbye."
Watching Wei Yuning go upstairs, Zhong Weiling thought to himself, first he lost his innocence, now even his reputation was gone. Why is life so hard?
Zhong Weiling awkwardly turned his head, his gaze falling on the motionless Xie Zhiqin, "Just now, was your hearing good or bad?"
Xie Zhiqin's eyes lost focus for a moment before refocusing, smiling lightly, "Bad."
Zhong Weiling breathed a sigh of relief, that's good, that means he didn't hear. He was about to say something else when Xie Zhiqin tied the red string of his mask back in place, lowering his eyes and speaking softly, "I'm ugly. If you saw my true face, you'd be even more scared, so it's better not to."
Zhong Weiling, still reeling from the awkwardness of the dialogue task, didn't pay much attention to Xie Zhiqin's subtle actions and didn't press him, "Fine, since you're so considerate of me, I'll give you a bed."
"Thank you." As Xie Zhiqin followed Zhong Weiling inside, his gaze occasionally swept over Zhong Weiling's waist.
Accompanying every night, and his waist hurts, so did he do that kind of thing with Sui Ming too? Xie Zhiqin subconsciously clenched his fists, not knowing why, but it felt like something was stuck in his chest, neither up nor down, and it was very uncomfortable.
As Zhong Weiling went upstairs, he glanced back at him, "No matter how unreasonable Tang An is, Yundu and Jiling are both part of the Immortal Sect. It's impossible for him to kick you out in the middle of the night. I'm curious, what did you or your disciples do to provoke him?"
To make Tang An not even give them the courtesy of staying overnight.
Xie Zhiqin paused for a moment, then said lightly, "We found the dagger I lost in Tang An's secret chamber."
Zhong Weiling stopped in his tracks, narrowing his eyes, "The one that can alter the teleportation array?"
Xie Zhiqin nodded, "But we couldn't bring it out. We were discovered by Tang An's people, and after that, he wanted to stop us from leaving to keep the news from spreading. During the fight, I accidentally destroyed their ancestral shrine. And because I used too much force, the sparks ignited the surrounding buildings. While their family was busy putting out the fire, I took my junior disciples and left."
Zhong Weiling's mouth twitched, "You destroyed his ancestral shrine? And burned his house down?!"
Dude, why don't you just ascend to the heavens?
"We paid for it." Xie Zhiqin lowered his eyes guiltily. He had always heard from Senior Brother Feng Ji that Tang An's cultivation had recently increased significantly. Although he claimed to be at the peak of the Golden Core stage, someone who had sparred with him said his spiritual power was at least at the mid-Nascent Soul stage. But who knew he was so fragile.
Zhong Weiling: "?"
Xie Zhiqin: "When we left, everyone took off their money pouches and left them at their door, but it probably wasn't enough. When I return to Yundu, I'll ask Senior Brother Feng Ji to compensate for the rest."
First, they refused the marriage alliance, then destroyed the ancestral shrine. Zhong Weiling thought, Tang An probably doesn't want your compensation; he just wants to fix you.
As he spoke, Xie Zhiqin took out two pieces of cloth, "My junior disciple Dantai accidentally knocked over a box while escaping, and these two pieces of cloth fell out. He just grabbed them. I compared them carefully; they are from the uniforms of disciples from the Baicao Sect, a family of medical cultivators. Each disciple's uniform has a unique herbal pattern, so these two pieces should belong to two different people."
Baicao Sect... He remembered that the two disciples Sang Linger saw at the broken temple seemed to be from the Baicao Sect.
Could these two pieces of cloth belong to those two?
But why would Tang An want these two pieces of cloth...
Zhong Weiling frowned at the burnt edges of the cloth. The scorched parts of the clothing had a cold aura, similar to the piece of clothing Xie Zhiqin brought back from Yan Yue Shan when tracking the ghost vine, as if it wasn't burned by ordinary flames.
"Why are you giving this to me?" Zhong Weiling asked, puzzled.
"It has the aura of the demon clan," Xie Zhiqin quickly added, fearing Zhong Weiling might misunderstand, "It should be the aura of the former Demon Lord's remnants, so I thought it would be better for you to investigate."
Zhong Weiling glanced at him, continued upstairs, and said casually, "When dawn comes and everyone wakes up, tell your junior disciples that all the Immortal Sect people staying here should be careful. Don't ask why; when the time comes, you'll know. Of course, you can ignore it, but if something happens to your Yundu disciples, don't blame me."
Xie Zhiqin quickly said, "I trust you."
His eyes were so sincere that Zhong Weiling almost laughed.
Just like a little fool.
"That's best. You stay in this room. If you need anything, come to me. I'm going to sleep now." With that, Zhong Weiling turned and opened the door to the room next door.
Xie Zhiqin stood there, his previously desolate eyes gradually brightening. So, they weren't staying together?
And Sui Ming was staying at the end of the corridor, while he was staying next door, just a wall apart.
Xie Zhiqin suddenly felt his face heat up, fanning himself as he awkwardly walked into the room.