Chapter 5: The Miao Capturing Rope

Bai Jiujiu, who had transformed back into human form, wrapped herself in a blanket, covering the crucial areas.

‘It’s so stuffy…’

The ring that was originally blocking her lower body had now moved to her left hand. She remembered that the constable had called this thing… a Miao Capturing Rope?

As the words ‘Miao Capturing Rope’ appeared in Bai Jiujiu’s mind, the golden ring in her eyes instantly turned into a golden rope about two meters long.

‘It turned into a rope!’

Bai Jiujiu’s eyes lit up with joy. As she gripped the Miao Capturing Rope, the method of use naturally came to her mind.

Her gaze wandered around the room, finally settling on the oil lamp hanging on the wall.

‘Go, Miao Capturing Rope!’

With a flick of her small hand, the golden rope coiled around the oil lamp like a dancing dragon, steadily bringing it to Bai Jiujiu’s hand.

‘Not bad.’

Bai Jiujiu happily played with the rope in her hand, showing none of the maturity and composure expected of a thousand-year-old demon. She focused her attention on the runes carved into the rope, muttering to herself.

‘Since it’s a Miao Capturing Rope, I wonder how effective it would be for binding demons?’

To her surprise, as soon as Bai Jiujiu spoke, the Miao Capturing Rope, as if stimulated, suddenly extended from two meters to about seven meters, aiming at the naked girl lying on the wooden bed, covered only by a blanket.

‘What?’

The Miao Capturing Rope folded in the middle and quickly looped around Bai Jiujiu’s neck. It then sequentially tied knots at her collarbone, ‘mountain valley,’ sternum, and ‘small river.’ The two rope ends moved together, wrapping around her hips and tying a knot at the opposite position on her back, slightly above. They then pulled apart, passing through the rope behind her neck, automatically wrapping around her armpits and returning to the front, pulling apart and forming a diamond pattern on her skin from top to bottom.

The Miao Capturing Rope, finding the arrangement unsightly, adjusted its position while tightening the rope, finally gathering it at her waist.

From start to finish, it took less than ten seconds to perfectly bind the naked girl lying in the dimly lit room on the wooden bed.

This is simply a work of art.

The bound Bai Jiujiu did not share this opinion. Although the Miao Capturing Rope was only demonstrating its technique and had no intention of harming her, she still felt embarrassed. After all, she was a thousand-year-old demon! How humiliating!

Moreover, the Miao Capturing Rope was imbued with electric shock and burning spells, which were automatically released as it bound Bai Jiujiu.

‘No way…’

Bai Jiujiu felt a strange sensation in her body. Before she could catch her breath, her eyes widened, and she clenched her teeth.

‘…’

‘What’s wrong, the door isn’t closed properly, this is bad, so much water is coming in.’

After instructing the cellar attendant to boil a pot of hot water, the shop boy returned to the counter but found that the rainwater had seeped in through the door cracks. He hurriedly grabbed a gourd ladle and scooped out all the water that had flowed in through the cracks.

‘Why is there so much water, and it’s flowing in too much through the cracks, is something leaking?’

The floor by the door was almost a pool of water, scaring the shop boy half to death.

Finally, after scooping out most of the water, the shop boy blocked the wooden door with a wooden bar, firmly locking it shut.

What bad luck, the shop boy sat at the counter, feeling a bit unlucky. His hurried scooping of water had soaked him, and his torn short coat was completely damp.

He leaned on the table, not bothering to tally the lost assets. His mind was filled with visions of a beautiful future.

‘Mew~ mew~ mew~’

If he returns this miss to her family, how much silver will he get? No, it should be piles of gold ingots.

Then he would go to the Fragrant Gathering Pavilion in the Great Chu Kingdom, call two women, and play with one, discard one.

Hehehe~

The shop boy smiled dreamily, drifting off to sleep in his daydreams.

‘Mew~ mew mew~ mew mew mew~’

‘Mew… mew? Mew mew mew mew mew mew?’

The baby’s cries grew louder and more urgent, eventually conveying a sense of extreme confusion.

In the corner, nine black shadows gathered, gradually forming a somewhat bulky, four-limbed creature crawling on the ground, with nine tails swaying behind it.

Eighteen eyes opened simultaneously, some curious, some angry, some vacant. But without exception, these nine pairs of eyes looked at the shop boy with the predatory hunger of a hunter.

Suddenly, nine pairs of eyes turned to the second floor, focusing on the room at the very end.

Their gaze was filled with greedy desire, not just for food, but for the urge to possess.

In the end, they hesitantly lowered their heads, looking at the shop boy.

‘Mew!!’

The baby’s cries echoed through the rainy night, but the only one who could hear it, the shop boy, had become a corpse with skin and bones but no flesh.

‘…’

In the room on the second floor, Bai Jiujiu buried her head in the blanket, and the Miao Capturing Rope had returned to its bracelet form.

She lifted her head, covering her face with her hands, and peered through a small gap at the water stains on the blanket and straw mat.

Visible redness spread from her neck up to her cheeks, and a wisp of steam could be seen rising from her head, as if a fire was burning in her chest.

It’s all Su Ling’er’s fault, that fox spirit, stealing the Green Water Pearl for no reason, causing a commotion in the Great Chu Kingdom and using her own appearance.

Bai Jiujiu vowed to use this Miao Capturing Rope to hang Su Ling’er up and spank her butt!

It just so happens that she’s a fox demon, so it’s not a waste of this demon-capturing treasure.

Bai Jiujiu thought about it more and more, feeling more and more angry and hot.

Is this normal?

Bai Jiujiu felt something was off.

She looked down at her body, which was red as copper, and became even more certain that something was wrong. Even when she was messed with by those disciples for three days and nights, her body hadn’t felt this hot.

She suddenly remembered touching a fire talisman at the staircase when she entered, and her body temperature had seemingly been suppressed.

At that time, she was wearing wet clothes, and her body temperature seemed to have been pressed down. Bai Jiujiu suspiciously held her hand over the water-stained blanket.

A flame erupted from her hand, drying the damp area.

Hiss…

Soon, the straw mat and blanket, which had previously had water stains, were dried, leaving only a faint fragrance lingering in the air.

Although she had only practiced for a short while, Bai Jiujiu was surprised to find that her inner demonic power had not diminished at all. Instead, the spiritual energy in the air had become weaker.

‘Harmonizing the essence of heaven and earth, creating the laws of all things.’

Is this, a human cultivation method?

Although Bai Jiujiu did not know any demon spells, she understood that the flame she had just expelled from her hand was definitely not a demon spell.

As a qualified thousand-year-old demon, Bai Jiujiu, through her own observations and understanding, along with a cultivation manual for humans that she had picked up from a small cave and the self-cultivation of her disciples, clearly knew that demons use spells based on absorbing spiritual energy from heaven and earth to cultivate demonic power within their bodies, using their bodies as containers for combat. Therefore, demons prioritize physical training to ensure stability within their bodies. This is why demons have longer lifespans than humans, but they face heavenly tribulations at certain levels, failing which results in obliteration, and succeeding which results in a significant increase in power.

However, humans are different. Humans are physically weak and cannot convert spiritual energy into demonic power. The amount of spiritual energy their bodies can hold is also very small. But they discovered that under the influence of this small amount of spiritual energy, they could directly manipulate the spiritual energy existing in heaven and earth for combat. Over time, various styles of cultivation methods emerged, and stable release artifacts were born.

Normally, demons cannot cultivate human methods. The entry-level manual Bai Jiujiu found was useless, and she could not use spiritual energy.

Then why can she not only stably control human artifacts but also use human cultivation methods now?

Wait, artifacts!’

Bai Jiujiu suddenly thought of something, opening her big mouth and spitting out a jade green water pearl from her throat. She carefully infused her demonic power into it, exploring, and indeed found spiritual energy within.

At that time, she hadn’t noticed, and her body had no spiritual energy. Now, comparing it carefully with the Miao Capturing Rope, Bai Jiujiu could confirm that this was also an artifact that only humans could use.

‘…’

It seems that finding Su Ling’er is urgent.

Bai Jiujiu finally took a serious attitude. Since she crossed over, she had either been sleeping or on her way to sleep. Now, regarding why she crossed over from a man to a snake and the ‘mystery of her origins’ with her excessive sleepiness, she finally had a clue.

She is a crosser, a thousand-year-old demon! She must change her carefree habits and not tarnish the dignified image of a crosser!

But, can human cultivation methods only be used in a transformed state?

Bai Jiujiu thought and directly transformed from a human back into a snake, opening her bloody maw and recalling the feeling of using the flame.

‘Ah!’

Not a single spark appeared…

‘Hiss~’

Her mouth temperature clearly rose.

‘Um… woof!!’

A thick smoke billowed from her nostrils.

‘Cough! Cough cough! It’s so choking, I’m going to suffocate! I’m going to suffocate!’