Silence fell over the courtly demons. They soon noticed Mei Ying’s all-white attire, the silver chain-whip coiled against her waist, shining still from spirit water, and her small, fair face with the light brows and red lips. Questions swarmed in the red, glowing pupils. Some of the demons exchanged glances. A few casted their gaze to the ground, trying to make sense of what they had seen.

However, only four of the Netherworld Officials did not break eye contact from the huntress.

One even smiled in Mei Ying’s direction.

He was a dashing young man with light hair, worn in a high ponytail. His eyes radiated in cheerfulness. He wore a half-red-and-half-black outer robe and a scarf around his neck. When he smiled, Mei Ying could have sworn that a glint was in his eyes.

The Netherworld Officials...don’t exude any yin energy and look like humans too. The huntress noted. Maybe they are all Slayer-ranked demons.

Jian Yu snapped his fingers in the air, drawing the demons’ attention onto him. “This woman here...is Mei Ying.” Letting go of his friend’s hand, the Demon King added, “Otherwise, known as the Child of Red Omen. She will be residing with us for a while as a guest of honor and friend of mine. This one expects you all to treat her with the highest respect, to come to her aid when needed, and to protect her life at all costs. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Your Highness!” All eighteen Netherworld Officials shouted together. “Understood!”

A hand shot up in the air.

“Number Four, Yong Nian.” Xiao Li called out. “Do you have any questions?”

Ah, it’s the one who kept smiling at me! Mei Ying’s eyes widened.

“Yes!” Much to the huntress’ surprise—the young man winked at her. "Your Highness, it’s been twenty years since the birth of the Child of Red Omen… Do you mean to say that Mei Ying...is the same child who was born on the night of raining fire?”

“Yong Nian is correct.” answered the servant. “And?”

Turning to his fellow Officials, Yong Nian chuckled softly. “Well, this servant was just thinking...it is ironic that His Highness is protecting the one whom he is destined to cross swords with one day.”

Huh? At once, Mei Ying felt that the Fourth Netherworld Official’s smile was eerie with its icy edge. Like a sword that could cut into her. Oh, the popular interpretation of the prophecy…that ends with our fight.

Hostility brewed in the spacious dining room, causing the plates and chopsticks to rattle across the banquet table. Goblets trembled. The calm surface of soups in small bowls broke, rippling with the disturbance.

“What are you implying?” Xiao Li creased his eyebrows together. Immediately, a bright red flame symbol emerged into his forehead. His eyes aflamed with redness. “Huh?”

“This servant also disagrees with His Highness’ decision.” It was a teenager, who spoke up this time. Standing next to Yong Nian, he donned a sleeveless black robe that revealed black tattoos that swarmed around both lean muscular arms. The demon appeared no older than Xiao Li. “But...I will honor your decision and carry out your orders.”

“You too, Number Three?” Xiao Li clenched his jaw. “Please...elaborate.”

“Seven days out, and, already, there is a human brought back to our midst.” The young Netherworld Official drawled out, “...However, having the Young Miss here in the Netherworld is better for our advantage. Not only is she the Child of Red Omen…”

“Shao Qing…”

He ignored the servant and carried on, “...the Young Miss also wields the other half of the Dragon Hero sword, which once belonged to the celestial Dragon kingdom of the Heaven realm.” This turned the other demons’ heads, all of whom had fixated their sight on Jian Yu earlier. “That divine weapon was hidden and sealed by the second dragon prince, the deceased brother of Qing Di. A one-of-a-kind treasure, forged with spiritual energy and blood from the royal dragon family.”

Shao Qing’s words captured Mei Ying’s attention. “Isn't it suspicious...that the Young Miss is the sword's recognized master?”

Without a word, the huntress looked over the white scabbard that cradles the sword in its protection, resting against her hip and tiny silver bells. Fa Guang...and its other half makes up the sword that was once wielded by the Spring God’s younger brother. If this is true, then, whoever broke the divine seal was either the child, the designated inheritor, or someone who was deemed worthy by the weapon.

En Lai, Mei Ying’s deceitful and mysterious shifu, had told her that the former master of the Dragon Hero sword was his old friend, now revealed to be the Ninth Flower Immortal. Though cold and awkward, the shifu mentioned that they were close despite their polar opposite personalities and beliefs.

Now that the huntress heard about this new body of knowledge, the late second dragon prince must have hidden and sealed the sword away, given the dragon kingdom’s bitter history with the Heaven Realm. It then fell into the hands of En Lai’s friend. Since the friend was a Heaven Immortal, she probably broke the seal, was accepted as the new master, and passed the sword to En Lai’s runaway disciple.

Perhaps, it was the youth who had split the divine weapon into two.

Now, Mei Ying came to be chosen as the current master of one half, Fa Guang, while the other’s whereabouts were unknown. What made Fa Guang choose her?

Aiya… And I had abused poor Fa Guang recently, using her to cut fish… The young woman was too embarrassed.

“Then, let us see the swor--”

It was swift.

The second when everyone else had blinked their eyes, a pair of glaring lights shot toward Yong Nian as he babbled in mid-sentence.

There was a thud. He fell onto his stubby legs, both of which were bleeding eminently. Thick red rivulets streamed from the young man’s kneecaps. Everything else was missing from the bottom down.

Mei Ying was shocked, blinking again and again. Wait…

Yong Nian was missing his shin, ankle, and feet. Both limbs had been cleanly chopped off by the red ‘fireflies’ that hovered over the seventeen other Netherworld Officials. There was another thud, with him lying face-down against the cool tiled floor. Behind Yong Nian were the misplaced lumps, oozing in a dark puddle of blood. The air besmeared with the potent scent of salt and rust.

The other demons stepped back.

Shao Qing was unable to move. His face went ashy-white. His eyes shifted down toward his boots.

“No one is allowed to touch or even think about touching Mei Ying without her permission.” The two red orbs of light flashed back into Jian Yu’s open palm. “That goes for anything that belongs to her too.” He closed his hand, and the ‘fireflies’ dissipated. “Number Three, I suggest that you take a good look at Yong Nian as an example.”

Slowly, Mei Ying averted her gaze to the Demon King. A red flame symbol had manifested on his pristine forehead as well. His eyes were crimson, blazing like it was about to broil over in destruction and colored like red maple leaves on an autumn day.

“He’s…” The huntress fumbled to get a grip on her reality. She did not know if Jian Yu’s action toward the demon was right or wrong.

“Xiao Li, give Mei Ying a tour of the residence.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Mei Ying turned at her heel, reaching to grab Jian Yu’s sleeve, but the young man had already stepped aside. A brilliant crimson light flashed for a second. He was gone.

“Where did Jian Jian go?!” Her voice snapped the sixteen other Netherworld Officials’ eyes back on her. Shao Qing too.

“Ah, he went to visit First...” Xiao Li clamped his mouth shut.

F*ck. Mei Ying wanted to slap herself. She froze, remembering Yong Nian’s bloody state.

“Don’t worry about Number Four.” With that said, the servant walked across the long roll of gold-trimmed carpet. His boots halted at the fallen demon’s body that bled through the thick fabric. “Highly-ranked demons are capable of regeneration. It is best if you do not feel too badly for that idiot. Had it been anyone else aside from the first Four Netherworld Officials, they would’ve been dead on the spot.”

The lengthy hall that they were on was well-lit, with its shiny tiled floor. How lustrous the stones were, sparkling as starlight and filled with beautiful engravings like the silver jewelries from Cheng Xiu Village.

In regarding the Netherworld, many righteous cultivators had described it as a most dreadful and gloomy place. The Crimson Flower Palace was especially widely feared as a site of dismemberment and darkness. Pure evil.

However, seeing only a fragment of the Crimson Flower Palace, Mei Ying considered everything that was written in the standard manual and people’s claims to be nothing...but nonsense. The residence is a unique and enigmatic beauty of its own right. At every flicker of the eye, the huntress found that the bedazzling and lavish establishment was so huge, it probably contained over a hundred rooms.

“Hey!” Kicking at the stiff demon’s shoulder, Xiao Li received a groan. “Young Miss, had His Highness not stop this idiot from spouting his shit, he would already have your sword or your throat. When you are a king, you ought to deal with such matters swiftly and harshly as an example.”

Xiao Li snapped his fingers in the air. At an instant’s notice, several shadows flashed by his side. They started cleaning up the ever-growing puddle of blood with buckets of water and towels.

In other words--Jian Jian saved me. Mei Ying felt a bit unsettled.

While her time with Jian Yu has been short so far, the young woman has picked up some of his cues. When Mei Ying asks him a question and Jian Yu refuses to meet her eye, it means that he is either hiding something or lying when answering. When unprompted and he is already not making eye contact, Jian Yu is either uncomfortable, worried, or shameful of what he had done. To be frank, if Mei Ying was in his position, she would not want to scare him away or...

There was a sigh. “Shao Qing...”

Having recovered from fright, the teenager lifted his head. His eyes grew large. He was surprised that Mei Ying referred to him by name rather than by his rank.

“This one has a request for you.”

❁❁❁

“Y-YOUR HIGHNESS!” Another whirl of the razor-sharp blade. “I-I CAN EXPLAIN!”

Again, with the red orbs pinning both hands against the floor, the pot-bellied man could not pull away from the sword's edge. Another finger was cut off from his right hand. Unable to bear with the blinding pain, the human-sized Judge screamed. Red blotted all over where the finger used to be.

Three gone. Seven left to go. Then, with the feet. Ten remaining.

“First Judge, did your memory coincidentally block out our deal?” A low voice asked, accompanied by a pair of glowing red eyes. A murderous shadow veiled the young man’s face. “You can always regenerate later, and so, I can take my time in cutting them off again and again. Maybe hang you out to dry with the seven-thousand-cut punishment, hour by hour, day by day.”

“N-No, please!” Whimpering, First Judge shook his head. His long hair was completely disheveled. The tall, majestic hat with the huge demon-face ornament was on the floor, covered with red droplets. “P-Please! S-Song Mei Ying wouldn’t want you to do this! She w-wouldn’t!”

“Which is exactly why I need to do this.” A dark, half-crazed smile slipped into Jian Yu’s handsome face, with a few dark hair strands sweeping over one eye. “Did you tell her anything else?”

“N-No, of course not!” Once more, the other’s sword pierced into one of the Judge’s fingers. “P-Please! This lowly one was wrong!”

“Why did you do it?”

“I-I knew right away that in this lifetime, Mei Ying--okay, okay!--was able to finally regain the ability to cultivate her core!” The blade paused, easing off its weight from the finger. Still, he was not safe. “S-So, the Heaven realm would be searching for her because with one’s ability to cultivate is the chance to attain godhood! Th-They need her to get to the secret divine art that was unique to only her--the secret that her first incarnation took to the literal grave, Your Highness! Th-That is why she chose to be thrown out of the Heaven realm, right?! Because she did not trust them with that!”

The atmosphere flipped from a thin ice of fear and cruelty into heavy, mutual solemnity.

“I remembered all the details of her Mirror of Truth when her damaged soul first descended…” Recognizing his mistake, the First Judge shut his mouth. He lowered his head, trembling like a dog before its master.

“Go on.”

“I do not dare to...”

It was not a matter of whether the Judge wanted to or not. “Finish your explanation of why you chose to bind Song Mei Ying to a Soul Bargain contract.” It was an order by Jian Yu.

First Judge’s voice was small, bracing himself for the black, ominous sword that stayed nearby. “Given her stubborn nature, which remained unchanged throughout the past centuries, and her alignment with the righteous cultivation sects, this one had to ensure that Mei Ying would be under the Netherworld’s wing and surveillance instead of the Heaven realm's.” He paused shortly. “So, I released the souls back to the Mortal realm, which could then be retracted if Mei Ying did not return here after the battle, with the silver bangle as a down payment.”

He went on, “Even if I tell her everything, she would not believe me! I figured that when she mentioned ‘cross-realm affairs’, the Heaven realm was already making their move toward her, to take advantage of someone who does not have any memories of her past lives.” The man hesitated but continued, “Even when one has gained Immortality, the problem is retaining it. How else to retain it--but through her--”

“So, you decided to force Mei Ying to sign the contract by harming her soul and stealing something that was extremely valuable to her? That was your solution?”

“Y-YOUR HIGHNESS!” Another finger was sliced off, twitching bit by bit against the once-speckless tiles. “AHHHH! I-I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY! I DID IT FOR YOU!”

The other’s red eyes brimmed over quaking rage. “For me? I never asked for this. In fact, I clearly remembered telling everyone to…”

Just when Jian Yu was about to twirl the wicked sword, a divine weapon that was overflowing with black fogs of resentment--a small hand gently covered his grip.

The soft motion of white sleeve overlapped with his crimson robe. A sprinkle of red bled through the young woman’s impeccable attire. Serenity washed over the entire court floor, causing the dark energy to disappear.

Her presence was like a flower that sprung out of a bloodbath, despite the ashes and rubble that surrounded it. No matter how much filth covered the field, regardless of the piles of corpses, the plant pushed and pushed until it bloomed under the red maple tree. It was unfortunately short-lived though, like a firefly.

“Jian Jian.” Anger had momentarily taken over Jian Yu's mind. He had forgotten that, of course, her spiritual energy was weak. Mei Ying was a human, after all. “Please let First Judge go.”

Jian Yu stiffened. Like a child caught red-handed, the young man refused to meet his friend’s warm gaze. Promptly, he allowed Mei Ying to take the quivering sword and set it down on the floor.

Well, this takes him far, far back...into another time when he was caught doing something bad.

“Your Highness…” From the corner of his eye, the young man caught sight of Shao Qing, following the huntress. Third Official. “She requested...um...ordered me to bring her here.”

“You did well...” Jian Yu’s response was soft. He could not blame the adolescent for following his strict order. The kid probably used a teleportation spell. “...doing as she wished.”

“Eat this Flower of Healing.” Drawing out a red crystalline flower head from her broad sleeve, Mei Ying popped it into the teary-eyed Judge’s mouth. “It will speed up your regeneration and numb your pain for the time being.” As the man chewed on the condensed spiritual energy, his face brightened.

“Isn’t that what you also gave to Yong Nian to eat?” Shao Qing knelt to help the Judge back onto his feet after the red orbs of light vanished, freeing the poor victim’s hands.

“Yes, since I harness both earth and floral elements, my Shifu said that I have the natural ability to heal others more effectively and efficiently, ah.” Keeping her tone light, Mei Ying went on, “The only down-side is that I cannot heal myself well.”

Shao Qing opened his mouth to speak but stopped. Lowering his voice, he said, “Young Miss...should not reveal her weakness to others, especially if she does not know whether they are good or bad people.”

Massaging her temple with one hand, Mei Ying responded, “Well, you saw what Jian Jian did to First Judge and Yong Nian. Do you really think anyone wants to be the third, Shao Qing?”

Third Official closed his mouth. Of course, no one wants to be the next victim!