Chapter 21:The Buried Truth

Su Qinghan’s mind raced.

To restore the cat demon’s memories, she would have to use a spell.

And spells required spiritual power.

Her body was currently an empty vessel, utterly drained.

She had no spiritual power to speak of; even standing was a struggle.

‘Jiu Li, wake up! Stop sleeping!’

Su Qinghan frantically called out in her mind to the prideful fox spirit.

“What is it…” Jiu Li’s lazy voice, thick with sleep, echoed in her thoughts.

“I was just dreaming of roast chicken.”

‘Forget the chicken! This is an emergency! I need you to purify some spiritual power for me—my reserves are completely dry!’

“Right now?” Jiu Li’s voice sharpened with a hint of reluctance.

“That girl with the long, dark hair is still right there.

The moment I start converting demonic energy, some of it is bound to leak out.

Her senses are sharp.

What if she mistakes you for a demon’s accomplice and cuts you down?”

Su Qinghan considered this and realized she was right.

Lu Hongzhuang’s hatred for demons was bone-deep.

If she sensed demonic energy on her, it would be impossible to clear her name.

‘She’s not a stranger,’ Su Qinghan muttered to herself.

‘What’s there to hide?’

“Absolutely not!” Jiu Li retorted instantly.

“Purifying demonic energy into spiritual power is unheard of across the Three Realms!

We share one body, and I have no desire for you to be burned at the stake as a heretic! You’d drag me down with you!”

Su Qinghan felt that for a thousand-year-old fox, Jiu Li could be overly cautious, but her point was valid.

She looked up and met the gazes of Lu Hongzhuang and the cat demon, their expressions a mixture of concern and confusion.

‘I’ve got it.’

An idea sparked in Su Qinghan’s mind.

She let out two deliberate coughs, her face paling even further as she leaned weakly against Lu Hongzhuang.

“This is no place to cast a spell.

The yin energy is too strong,” she began, her voice faint.

“Help me… help me inside.”

At her words, Lu Hongzhuang dared not hesitate.

She and the cat demon quickly flanked Su Qinghan, half-carrying and half-supporting her into the dilapidated house.

The room was covered in a thin layer of dust, and the air was thick with the scent of old wood.

Su Qinghan was helped into a relatively clean chair.

She took a breath, then waved a dismissive hand at Lu Hongzhuang.

“You, get out.”

“Huh?” Lu Hongzhuang was stunned.

“Why should I leave? If I’m not here to watch you, what if this demon attacks you again?”

“This is a secret technique, passed down through my lineage alone,” Su Qinghan said, spinning a tale with a perfectly straight face.

“Outsiders must withdraw, understand?”

Lu Hongzhuang’s face immediately fell, her lips pouting so much you could hang a lantern from them.

“You still don’t trust me? You think I’m going to steal your technique?”

“Alas,” Su Qinghan sighed, adopting a grave and earnest tone.

“Lady Lu, when your cultivation reaches a sufficient level, I will naturally impart this knowledge to you.

But your current understanding is too shallow.

Witnessing this would not only fail to benefit you but could also disrupt your state of mind and cause you to succumb to Qi deviation.

I am only saying this for your own good.”

This speech, a blend of truth and fiction, struck Lu Hongzhuang’s weak spot perfectly.

Though still displeased, the thought of “Qi deviation” sent a shiver of fear through her.

“Then be quick about it!” she said, retreating reluctantly to the doorway.

She glanced back, still worried.

“Call me if anything happens! I’ll keep watch for you!”

With that, she closed the door and stood guard in the courtyard, sword in hand.

The door creaked shut.

Su Qinghan immediately urged in her mind, ‘Alright, get to work!’

“Roger that!”

Jiu Li responded.

The next moment, a warm current materialized deep within Su Qinghan’s dantian, flowing gently but swiftly through her entire body.

Her parched meridians were instantly revitalized.

The feeling of power returning was so comforting she almost moaned in pleasure.

As the spiritual power filled her, a pair of fluffy, nearly transparent, pale blue fox ears materialized out of thin air between the strands of her hair.

The ears twitched lightly, at once adorable and ethereal.

“You… you… you…”

The cat demon stared, dumbfounded.

She pointed a trembling finger at the top of Su Qinghan’s head, too shocked to form a complete sentence.

‘Is she… a demon?! And a fox demon of incredibly noble blood at that?!’

Su Qinghan, however, was completely oblivious to the change atop her head, her entire being immersed in this long-lost feeling of abundance.

She could even feel a flicker of sensation return to her legs, which had been numb and useless for so long.

Gripping the chair for support, she shakily rose to her feet.

One step.

Two steps.

Though her gait was unsteady, she was truly, undeniably walking on her own!

The sensation of her feet firmly on the ground was simply wonderful!

Suppressing her excitement, she drew a yellow talisman from her sleeve and held it between her fingers.

This time, she needed no one else’s power.

“By the supreme edict, I purify your inner demons!”

Su Qinghan’s voice rang out, no longer weak, but imbued with a cold authority.

“Let deluded thoughts cease, and your mind be as clear as a mirror!”

As she spoke, the talisman between her fingers erupted in a golden flame, transforming into a streak of light that shot into the center of the cat demon’s brow.

The cat demon, still reeling from the shock of the fox ears, felt a cool, soothing sensation envelop her mind.

The chaotic, painful, and fragmented memories were gently sorted and pieced together by a gentle force.

Buried scenes unfolded in her mind, one after another.

The dark, damp demon prison had been her entire world.

Her name was Miao Beisang, a minor cat demon whose only real skill was stealing people’s faces.

Her only wish was to see the world outside.

And then, she met Luo Li.

The quiet demon exorcist who always carried the faint scent of medicinal herbs.

They spoke through the cold prison bars.

They talked about how warm the sun was outside, how sweet the candied hawthorns in town were, and about the vibrant, dazzling world of mortals she had never seen.

In Luo Li’s eyes, Miao Beisang saw the same loneliness that she felt.

“Don’t you… know how to peel off someone’s face and wear it as your own?”

Finally, one day, Luo Li asked her softly.

“Use my face. Go out and see the world.”

“But you must return within five days.”

An absurd pact became their sweetest secret.

For half a year, Miao Beisang wore Luo Li’s face, venturing out time and again to see the world she yearned for.

She would return with a heart full of joy and stories of new wonders to share with Luo Li in her cage.

“I want to bring her home. I want to spend my life with her.”

Luo Li’s handwriting in the journal was so full of joy.

On their last meeting, Miao Beisang told Luo Li, “Wait for me. I’ll go find a way, catch another demon to take my place. Then we can be together forever.”

Filled with dreams for the future, she left the demon prison, left Bluestone Town, wearing Luo Li’s face.

However, just as she reached the small woods outside of town, a sharp sword light struck her from behind!

A man in an official’s uniform, holding a longsword, stood before her with a blank expression.

Before she could even react, a powerful force knocked her unconscious.

Her memory ended there.

When she woke again, her mind was a blank slate, filled only with the man’s cold voice.

“From today on, you are the cat demon. I will tell you what to do. Disobey, and you die.”

He forced her to peel the faces of young women in town, demanding she collect five.

Unwilling to harm anyone, she lied, claiming her technique had severe limitations and could only be used once every seven days, just to buy time.

The man didn’t seem to be in a hurry.

He simply gave her an address and told her to hide there.

That place was Luo Li’s home.

The flood of memories receded.

Miao Beisang collapsed to her knees with a thud, tears streaming down her face.

She finally remembered.

She remembered everything.

At that same moment, Su Qinghan’s spiritual power was completely depleted, and the adorable fox ears on her head quietly vanished.

Miao Beisang looked up at Su Qinghan.

The terrifying pressure she had felt for a fleeting moment, a pressure originating from the very depths of her bloodline, had made her soul tremble.

It was the absolute suppression of a superior over an inferior!

‘This esteemed lady… she must be a noble of some hidden demon clan, lying low in the human world. I’d best not interfere with her plans, whatever they are!’

“Ahem…”

Just as Su Qinghan was about to strike a masterful pose, her legs suddenly gave out.

The abundant spiritual power had come as quickly as it had gone, and her legs once again became useless appendages that wouldn’t obey her.

She staggered, nearly falling, and only managed to steady herself by grabbing a rickety nearby table.

Any air of mystique she had built up vanished in an instant.

Creak—

The door was thrown open, and a tense-looking Lu Hongzhuang rushed in, sword at the ready.

“Are you done? What took so long?”

Her eyes immediately fell upon Miao Beisang, who was kneeling on the floor, weeping, and Su Qinghan, who was leaning against the table with a deathly pale face.

Lu Hongzhuang instantly became vigilant.

Miao Beisang looked up, her eyes filled with tears, and choked out, “Luo Li… Luo Li…”

Before she could finish, Lu Hongzhuang threw the journal down in front of her.

“What about her? See for yourself!”

The journal landed on the dusty floor, falling open to a page filled with Luo Li’s elegant yet despairing script.

Miao Beisang reached out with a trembling hand and picked up the thin booklet.

She turned the pages one by one, silent tears quickly soaking the paper.

‘So… she was waiting for me all along.’

‘So… even at the very end of her life, she was still thinking of me.’

“I’ve failed you…”

Miao Beisang clutched the journal, letting out a suppressed, sorrowful whimper.

The dilapidated house filled with the sound of her grief-stricken cries.

After a long while, she slowly raised her head, her face a mask of ashen despair.

“Thank you… I will fulfill our promise.”

She looked at Su Qinghan and Lu Hongzhuang, her voice hoarse.

“I will return the face… to that girl.”

With that, she pressed her palms together and began to chant.

The face of the carpenter’s daughter began to blur, dissolving into specks of light that peeled away from her skin and vanished into the air.

When the light faded, it revealed Luo Li’s delicate and gentle face.

Su Qinghan looked at her and asked one final question.

“Then what of your own face?”

Miao Beisang, or perhaps she should be called Luo Li now, slowly shook her head.

Tears still stained her cheeks, but she managed a smile that was more painful than a sob.

“My face… After all that has happened, how could I possibly show my own face?”

“From this day forward, I am Luo Li.

I will see the world’s mountains and rivers for her.”

She raised a hand to gently stroke her cheek, the motion as tender as if touching a priceless treasure.

Just then, Liu Ruyan’s cold voice drifted in from outside the door.

“Is that so? I’m afraid you won’t be leaving today.”

📚 Also on NHV Novels

Ability Inside

AngstBLFriendsToLovers

Read Now →
Not interested