Chapter 2: The Cloudfall Town Encounter

Cloudfall Town, a small settlement nestled at the foot of the thousand-mile Cloudfall Mountains, was strategically positioned in the heart of north-south trade. To its north lay the Tianshu Mountain Range and Qindu, while to its south stretched the Nine Provinces Archipelagos and the Great Chu Kingdom.

Consequently, countless merchants and travelers passed through its gates. Over time, it had blossomed into a renowned trading hub, famous far and wide.

Coinciding with the end of the summer harvest, the Great Chu Kingdom was set to host its annual Myriad Flowers Festival at the end of the month. The nearby villagers, eager and bustling, rushed to Cloudfall Town to sell the crops they had toiled over for half a year.

Merchants en route to the Great Chu Kingdom also passed through, some selling their wares, others purchasing local specialties, all hoping to fetch a good price at the Myriad Flowers Festival.

In short, Cloudfall Town was currently teeming with people, a vibrant spectacle of activity.

Amidst this throng, a woman in white, as if newly descended from the heavens, strode quickly through the bustling market.

Her extraordinary aura drew all eyes upward, yet they saw only a fleeting, indistinct silhouette.

Even so, she captured the hearts and souls of countless talented scholars.

Bai Jiujiu soon reached the woods outside the town, where no one else could be seen. Seeing this, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief and dispelled the Concealing God Charm she had been maintaining.

Although she had taken human form, her body would unconsciously emit an alluring, captivating fragrance. To counter this, she had to hide her presence, preventing any lecherous scoundrels from disturbing her peace.

However, the most pressing matter now was not this, but how to face the Great Chu Kingdom’s army and the cultivators who sought to claim the bounty on her head.

‘That little fox, Su Ling’er, who knows where she’s run off to, leaving me with such a massive headache!’

‘First, I’ll return to the mountain. Then, I’ll find a small river to discard the Azurewater Pearl in my mouth. Finally, I’ll dig a hole, bury myself, and sleep for another thousand years.’

For good measure, Bai Jiujiu had upgraded her sleeping arrangements from a mountain gully to a simple burial on the spot.

It wasn’t as if this hadn’t happened before. Once, she had woken up to find a massive mountain pressing down on her, with no idea how it got there.

Bai Jiujiu considered her plan absolutely perfect.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh

Three crimson fire needles swiftly shot towards Bai Jiujiu. Her eyes, hidden behind her veil, narrowed, and her body instinctively pushed off the ground, retreating through the air to evade the deadly strike.

“Good demon! Agile footwork indeed.”

A woman emerged from the shadows beneath a tree, a graceful smile on her face, as she produced a token.

“Third-Grade Constable Tong Qiu of the Demon Suppression Division! You demon, surrender at once!”

“Demon… Demon Suppression Division! That fast?”

‘Normally, shouldn’t I have everything prepared, and then these guys would only show up fashionably late, perhaps around the time the ending credits roll for an episode?’

‘At least let me get back to the mountain first!’

Tong Qiu put away her token. Hearing Bai Jiujiu’s astonished words, she became even more convinced that the other party had something to hide.

After transforming, this snake demon’s aura was indistinguishable from an ordinary person. If not for the tea she had accidentally spilled on Tong Qiu’s back, drawing her attention, Tong Qiu truly wouldn’t have noticed a demon sitting right behind her.

One with such cultivation in transformation, and a snake demon at that.

As a constable, Tong Qiu’s understanding of Su Ling’er’s rampage in the Great Chu Kingdom was certainly beyond what ordinary folk knew.

Currently, within a hundred-mile radius around the Great Chu Kingdom, snakes and foxes were on the verge of being exterminated by the enraged king.

Snake demons and fox demons had become prime targets for the Demon Suppression Division’s constables.

There was a senior sister in the Division who excelled at detection. Thanks to her, Tong Qiu and many other constables knew that the fox demon had appeared in Cloudfall Town a week ago.

To enter the Great Chu Kingdom, one had to record their face with a reflection mirror at the guard post. This meant that the five human faces the fox demon had disguised herself as were all recorded. Without exception, they were all beauties capable of toppling kingdoms.

All constables dispatched to Cloudfall Town to apprehend the fox demon, Su Ling’er, were forced to memorize these images.

Among them, one image—with hair like dark clouds, hands like tender bamboo shoots, skin like congealed fat, black hair, and crimson eyes, clad in white—left a particularly deep impression on Tong Qiu, who had been compelled to view it.

This image was remarkably similar to the demon before her. However, with the demon’s face obscured by a veil, Tong Qiu wasn’t entirely certain.

As for the snake demon Su Ling’er had mentioned, ordinary people believed her to be a millennia-old grand demon. However, the constables in the Division unanimously agreed she was a demon in the Yin Spirit stage.

Starfire, Materia, Soul Seed, Yin Spirit, Demonic Abode, Six Cycles, and Heavenly Meridian—these seven realms were a power classification system created by the Demon Suppression Division for demons, recognized and promoted by cultivators nationwide.

The Great Chu Kingdom also held this belief, which was why they had specifically increased the bounty for the Demon Suppression Division, raising the reward for that snake demon to fifty million gold ingots.

Now, observing her reaction, with a bit of luck, this might even be Su Ling’er herself. Even if not, she must surely have encountered or be related to that fox demon.

“Su Ling’er, you cannot escape!”

Tong Qiu had a flash of inspiration, hoping to trick the demon.

Bai Jiujiu was momentarily stunned to hear herself called Su Ling’er, but she quickly understood the situation.

Su Ling’er possessed an innate charm. Though her cultivation was the weakest among Bai Jiujiu’s disciples, she excelled at disguise, easily mimicking the appearance and aura of anyone she had seen.

Back on the mountain, she often imitated other disciples to tease Bai Jiujiu, and even used Bai Jiujiu’s appearance to trick her senior sisters.

‘It must be that little fox, Su Ling’er, who disguised herself as me and went to the Great Chu Kingdom, only to be discovered by them.’

‘No, I can’t tolerate this! That wretched child is getting more and more disrespectful! Before I go to sleep on the mountain, I must find Su Ling’er and give her a good spanking on her little bottom!’

However, she was unwilling to get too involved with the Demon Suppression Division now. Although her magical power was incredibly vast and potent, the only spells she knew were the Transformation Art and the Concealing God Charm.

Bai Jiujiu considered herself utterly useless in a fight, certain she couldn’t defeat an experienced constable specializing in dealing with demons.

“Su Ling’er, I’ve already sent a signal to headquarters. Thousands of constables and cultivators have surrounded you! Quickly hand over the Azurewater Pearl and break your own琵琶骨 [TL Note: A torture method where the shoulder blades are pierced to render a person powerless] to surrender!”

In reality, only Tong Qiu was present. This was a big catch; even if it wasn’t Su Ling’er, providing a lead alone was worth a thousand gold ingots.

A Third-Grade Constable earned at most two thousand silver coins a month. If she could capture this snake demon, she would earn more money than she could in her entire lifetime.

That was why Tong Qiu was reluctant to expose this lead, lest more powerful constables snatch it away. Her words were merely a bluff, borrowing prestige.

She hoped to unsettle the demon’s mind, buying herself time to release the Demon Binding Rope.

‘Someone has already surrounded the area?’

Upon hearing this, Bai Jiujiu knew it was no laughing matter. Without further explanation to Tong Qiu, she turned tail and fled.

“Demon, where do you think you’re going!”

Seeing Bai Jiujiu turn her back, Tong Qiu quickly chanted a few incantations. The bracelet on her arm instantly transformed into a golden rope, shooting towards Bai Jiujiu like lightning.

This Demon Binding Rope was a demon-catching artifact, woven not only from the silk of a thousand-year-old Flame Cocoon Demon but also imbued with a spell that could scorch a demon’s soul.

It could track demons at will, and ordinary demons bound by it would instantly lose their ability to move.

‘Hehehe, it was worth gritting my teeth and spending a whole year’s salary to buy it not long ago. Now I’m rich, rich!’

‘With such immense power, this demon surely won’t be able to withstand it. Indeed, you get what you pay for. My wonderful life of freedom, here I come!’

The moment the Demon Binding Rope touched Bai Jiujiu, it seemed to gain sentience. The rope’s head lifted, turned to look at Tong Qiu for a second or two, then unhesitatingly transformed into a yellow bracelet and settled onto Bai Jiujiu’s wrist.

Bai Jiujiu’s attention was entirely focused on what lay ahead, so she paid little mind to it. Her body, light as a leaf, swiftly weaved through the forest.

In the blink of an eye, Bai Jiujiu vanished from right under Tong Qiu’s nose.

“Eh???”

Tong Qiu blinked, frozen in place. A gentle breeze swept by, and a green leaf landed on her head like a cap.

‘Did my Demon Binding Rope just… abandon me? Did it run off with a demon right before my eyes?’

‘In other words, my entire year’s salary… might have gone down the drain.’

‘This whole year, I’ve… worked for nothing?’

A statue stood rooted in the forest, with several green leaves adorning its head.

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