Chapter 16: The Enchanting Demon Revealed

In Bai Jiujiu’s vertically slit pupils, the internal structure of Li Sibao’s house instantly materialized before her eyes.

Although it wasn’t true x-ray vision, it allowed her to observe the life activities within, giving her a good sense of the layout inside Li Sibao’s home.

Li Sibao’s house was far from small; it could even be considered the most luxurious in the town. In this impoverished little village, Li Sibao’s residence was a two-story villa.

Tong Qiu helped Bai Jiujiu put away her clothes, draping them over her own arm. She crouched behind Bai Jiujiu’s snake form, carefully observing the exposed body of the snake.

The white snake, about a meter long, was so uniformly white that Tong Qiu couldn’t quite distinguish the back from the belly. Generally, Mansion Realm demons were known to have massive forms, sometimes comparable to mountains.

Yet, Bai Jiujiu’s appearance was so small that Tong Qiu wondered if she had used some spell to shrink herself.

Tong Qiu’s curiosity got the better of her, and she found herself pressing her face against Bai Jiujiu’s snake body.

“It feels just a bit smoother and softer than a regular snake,” she mused, reaching out to poke the tip of the snake’s tail.

Feeling the pleasant texture, and seeing that Bai Jiujiu had no reaction, Tong Qiu opened her hands and gently stroked the snake’s body.

“This texture, this smoothness,” she thought, “if it weren’t for the fear of Bai Jiujiu’s wrath, I might even be tempted to lick it to test its quality.”

“If sold to the wealthy young masters in the city, it would surely fetch a good price,” Tong Qiu mused. Besides her work as a constable, she often sold the skins and jewels she acquired during demon hunts to the wives and daughters of wealthy families, making it one of her many side jobs.

“After all, how much can a constable earn?” she wondered.

Of course, Tong Qiu only entertained these thoughts momentarily. The demon before her was her boss, and selling her would be unwise. Besides, Mansion Realm demons were known for their deep cunning and weren’t easily deceived.

“Hmm, what is this liquid?” Tong Qiu withdrew her hands, noticing they were slightly damp with a captivating allure.

The scent was strangely familiar, as if she had smelled it before. It made her want to inhale deeply.

Tong Qiu brought her hand to her nose, closing her eyes to savor the fragrance. When she opened them, a euphoric smile played on her lips, and she found herself reaching out to touch Bai Jiujiu’s body again.

She hadn’t realized that the scent was the same as the one on the sheets Bai Jiujiu had slept on. The lingering aroma in the air couldn’t compare to the fresh, unadulterated essence.

Bai Jiujiu felt Tong Qiu’s touch, a sensation hard to describe, but the constable quickly withdrew her hand. Bai Jiujiu assumed she was merely examining her form, accidentally brushing against her sensitive areas.

With this assurance, Bai Jiujiu redirected her focus to Li Sibao’s house.

Li Sibao had been kneeling at the entrance, bowing his head every minute. Bai Jiujiu wondered who he was bowing to—perhaps the enchanting demon?

Yet, she couldn’t find any other signs of life in the two-story house. Her eyes strained, but she couldn’t detect another living being.

The key to her freedom was at stake, and Bai Jiujiu didn’t want to miss any detail. Unfortunately, her vision wasn’t x-ray, or she might have seen more.

Her disciples, on the other hand, were skilled in such spells. Once free, she would seek out and absorb a relevant technique.

“Mmm, it’s so itchy down there,” Bai Jiujiu thought, as Li Sibao, after nine resounding bows, stood on shaky legs.

“Incense Demon, can you let my son out to see me?” he pleaded, his voice heavy with sorrow.

Bai Jiujiu’s heightened senses allowed her to hear his words clearly.

“Meow,” came the response, a chorus of childlike voices.

“Yes!”

Suddenly, a life force the size of a long table appeared in the house.

“This demon has a strange way of speaking, as if it has nine different voices. Could it have nine demonic cores?” Bai Jiujiu wondered, recalling her past life’s fascination with transformation and multiple personalities in novels.

The demon had finally revealed its true form. Although Bai Jiujiu couldn’t see through walls, she could clearly make out the nine eerie tails floating behind it.

“Why are they so strange?” Bai Jiujiu pondered. She had seen Su Ling’er’s true form, a six-tailed fox, whose tails all originated from a single point on her spine.

Similarly, her disciple, Xia Qiuqian, a cat demon with two tails, had them both emerging from her tailbone.

With over a thousand years of life experience, Bai Jiujiu had observed many multi-tailed demons. Generally, their extra tails were a way to store excess or temporary power, as seen in Su Ling’er, or tools for survival, like Xia Qiuqian’s.

Sometimes, Bai Jiujiu felt as if someone was stroking her tail, even tickling it.

Yet, regardless of the type, all multi-tailed demons had their tails originating from a single point on their body.

The demon before Li Sibao, however, had nine tails, each with a separate origin on its back, scattered and disjointed.

“Is this the demon that killed the shopkeeper, framing me and forcing me to work with the constables?” Bai Jiujiu wondered.

“Daddy…” The demon spoke again, this time in a single, childlike voice.

“Is this demon Li Sibao’s son?” Bai Jiujiu thought, her mind racing with new information. She paused, ready to order Tong Qiu into battle.

Li Sibao swayed unsteadily, reaching out to the demon with trembling hands. “Not head, but back?” Bai Jiujiu mused, unable to see the demon’s true face but sensing its conflicting emotions—joy, resentment, and exhaustion.

“Why such abstract emotions?” she wondered, then realized Li Sibao was indeed touching the demon’s head.

Bai Jiujiu’s eyes strained, almost bleeding, as she realized the truth. When Li Sibao approached, the demon’s “back” extended forward.

The demon wasn’t a single entity with nine tails, but a large demon carrying nine smaller demons, their bodies nearly fused into one.

The nine tails were actually the tails of the smaller demons lying on the larger one, overlapping to create the illusion of a nine-tailed beast.

Their childlike cries were the combined voices of the smaller demons, creating the overlapping effect.

Ten bodies merged, using infant cries to bewitch passersby. This demon, could it be the one from…”

“Tong Qiu, I know who this demon is…” Bai Jiujiu turned, ready to share her discovery with Tong Qiu.

Eager to impress her efficient human partner, she didn’t want to appear lazy. But when she turned, she saw Tong Qiu had flipped her snake tail, exposing her belly, which was as white as her back.

Tong Qiu’s eyes sparkled with affection, her hands gently caressing the snake’s tail. Bai Jiujiu could almost see a “meow” bubble above her head.

“What… are you doing?” Bai Jiujiu’s red eyes widened in confusion.

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