Chapter 51: Bai Ling’s Prison Break Plan

“Um… I heard Chenzhou Cinnabar can ward off zombies. I’m just going to the south side of the city…“

Before Bai Ling could finish, the wolf demon handed her a brocade pouch, which effectively shut her up.
Inside, it was clearly filled with a whole bag of Chenzhou Cinnabar.

‘Aren’t you a demon? Isn’t this stuff used for exorcism? Why would you be carrying this around?’

“Young Mistress, look, authentic Chenzhou old brand!“
The wolf demon, as if presenting a treasure, pulled out a string of items from the inner pocket of his suit—things like a black donkey’s hoof, peach wood nails, and so on.
Who knew how he managed to fit so many things in his suit.

“No, wait, why do you have this stuff?“
The girl was so startled by this display that she took three steps back, the tassels on her curtain-cloak hooking and knocking over a celadon vase.

The tiger demon took a step forward and caught the antique just before it hit the ground, his large, bell-like eyes blinking.
“This stuff humans came up with is actually quite effective against demons.“

Looking at the wolf demon and tiger demon trying their best to put on what they considered to be friendly smiles, the girl knew that these two were definitely not going to let her out.

The girl could only retreat back into the room resentfully.

Who knew where these two had popped out from.
As soon as they appeared, they started calling her “Young Mistress” and had grabbed her wrist to bring her to Guan Qing.

And they were putting on that self-proclaimed friendly smile.
Didn’t those green faces and long fangs look even more ferocious?

The girl had never seen these two before.

‘Even if they were Guan Qing’s subordinates, why were they calling her Young Mistress?’

“I’m not her daughter…“
The girl paced anxiously in front of the screen, her two small, fair feet slapping against the lapis lazuli floor tiles.

‘Got it!’

The girl suddenly clapped her hands, her gaze turning to the carved wooden window that still reflected the lights of the demon market.

‘Those two were just guarding the door. Couldn’t she just go out the window?’

‘As long as she could get out, wouldn’t it be up to her where she wanted to go?’

‘I’m practically a genius!’

The lights of the demon market outside the window plated the window lattice with an orange-yellow hue.
The girl stood on her tiptoes and counted the bluestone slabs below—the twenty-third one, carved with a fire-prevention talisman, was the best landing spot.

However, a pungent smell suddenly drilled into her nasal cavity with the wind.
The stimulating smell made tears well up in the corners of the girl’s eyes, and she fumbled to close the window.

‘What’s that smell? Holy crap, realgar?’

The girl suddenly caught a glimpse of the few crane-shaped incense burners hanging on the eaves.
The slowly emitting smell of realgar outlined an invisible wall by the window.

It was targeted specifically at her, a snake demon.

‘But if I hold my breath and rush out…’

The few crane-shaped incense burners suddenly “clicked” and turned, spraying a face full of realgar smoke at her.

“Cough, cough… Murder!“
The girl threw herself behind the carved screen, giving up the idea of sneaking out through the window.

It seemed Guan Qing was still one step ahead.

After all, as a snake demon, she was terrified of realgar.
Just a whiff of it made her dizzy.

How could she have known that Guan Qing had put a lot of thought into guarding against her? It wasn’t the first or second time she had been disobedient.

‘So, do I have to fight them?’

The girl looked at the carved wooden door.
The hexagonal palace lantern hanging under the corridor cast the shadows of the two giants on the snow-white paper.

‘I have to remember to apologize properly later…’

The wooden door creaked open, and the two demons standing at the door turned their heads in unison.

“Big brothers…“
The girl deliberately softened her voice when she opened the latch, her amber-gold pupils glowing with a honey-like luster in the corridor light.
“I suddenly remembered something very important…“

“Young Mistress, please speak!“
Two huge, furry faces suddenly moved closer.
The girl could even see the sesame seeds in the gaps of the wolf demon’s fangs.
The hot breath exhaled by the tiger demon stirred the bangs on her forehead, carrying the salty scent of beef jerky.

“That… is…“

‘Now!’

Frost condensed into an ice armor on her knuckles, and Bai Ling suddenly spun and threw a punch.
The ice crystal knuckle duster, wrapped in the sound of tearing air, went straight for the back of the two demons’ necks!

‘Sorry, I’ll apologize later…’

Eh?

The girl stared at the two demons in stunned silence, her knuckle duster stopping abruptly three inches from their skin—the tiger demon’s tail had somehow wrapped around her ankle, and the wolf demon’s sharp claws were lightly holding her wrist pulse.

These two had instantly neutralized the girl’s surprise attack from the left and right.
She hadn’t even seen how they had moved.

“The Mistress calls this ‘inviting the king into the urn’,” the wolf demon said with a simple and honest smile, scratching his head.
The fluff on the tip of his ear brushed against Bai Ling’s nose, making her want to sneeze.

The tiger demon took out a paper-wrapped package from the inner pocket of his suit.
“Chestnut cake from Wang’s in the south of the city.
Young Mistress, would you like to moisten your throat before we fight?“

“I’m just going to the south of the city to buy a sugar figurine!“
The girl clung to the doorframe, struggling for her life.

‘Are you kidding me!’

Thirty seconds later, the girl sat slumped on the lapis lazuli bricks, cross-legged and defeated, chewing on a chestnut cake.
The ice crystals shattered all over the floor with a “crack.”

The outside of the window was full of the smell of realgar, and she couldn’t beat the two door gods at the door.

‘What to do…’

She irritably messed up her long black hair into a bird’s nest.
The girl leaned back helplessly.

“Hiss… that hurts…“

The back of her head hit the ground with a crisp sound.
The girl clutched her head and rolled on the ground.

Her vision, blurred by tears, gradually became clear.
The girl suddenly saw the painted Chi dragon coiled on the beam.
She suddenly felt that its bared teeth looked very much like Guan Qing’s expression when she was scolding her.

Eh?

A beam?

An immature but very bold prison break plan suddenly appeared in the girl’s mind.

The Chi beast copper lamp coiled on the corridor pillar stretched the two’s shadows long.
The wolf demon leaned against the vermilion-painted pillar and lit a cigarette.

“Hey, you think our Young Mistress is really the Mistress’s daughter?“

His fingertip rubbed the cigarette filter, and the tobacco shreds rustled as they fell on the green moss that had just sprouted in the cracks of the blue bricks.

“Idiot! Can a blue luan lay a snake egg?“

The tiger demon slapped him on the back of the head, and the bronze bell on the eaves jingled.
He also casually took a whole pack of cigarettes from the wolf demon’s hand.

“Maybe she’s an adopted daughter, or an apprentice or something?“
The cigarette was lit.
The tiger demon took a deep drag and blew out a thick column of smoke.
“Anyway, looking at the Mistress’s attitude, she probably sees her as her successor.“

“I’ve been with the Mistress for hundreds of years, and I’ve never seen her take an apprentice before…“
The wolf demon suddenly fell silent, the spark of his cigarette almost scorching his whiskers.
A wisp of green smoke was drilling into the crack of the carved door.

He hurriedly waved his furry claws to disperse the smoke ring, afraid that the girl inside the door would smell the smoke.

“Do you think it could be the Mistress’s lover, that Daoist who has been chasing her for decades…“

“That was a chase to kill for decades.
If you keep talking nonsense, I’ll tell Sister Qi.
She’ll definitely wring your head off.“

“Ah! Help!“

A crisp sound of porcelain shattering suddenly came from inside the room, followed by the girl’s crying scream.

The tiger demon’s pupils suddenly constricted, and the cigarette in his mouth was extinguished in his palm with a “hiss.”
The two demons looked at each other and immediately burst through the door.
The antique carved wooden door turned into flying debris, raising a golden mist of dust in the moonlight.

The broken wood chips fell.
The wolf demon saw the shadow projected on the screen by the light from outside the window at a glance: a girl-like shadow was sitting on the ground, and a tall figure was holding a sharp blade, about to stab into the girl’s heart!

“Young Mistress!“

The wolf demon’s roar made the dust on the beams rustle down.
The tiger demon had already punched the figure behind the screen, and the gilt-gold screen fell to the ground with a crash.

However…

How could there be a girl and an assassin behind the screen? It was clearly just two sculptures made of ice crystals.

The wolf demon’s sharp claws were still embedded in the chest of the ice sculpture assassin, and the force of the tiger demon’s punch had already shattered the window lattice three zhang away.
The two ice sculptures gradually melted in the moonlight, and the water stains on the ground formed a crooked and twisted handwriting: Fools.

“Eh?”

The two demons turned their heads sharply, only to see the girl stepping barefoot over the scattered wood chips, the goose-yellow curtains like a cape, flying behind her.

She turned her head and made a funny face, her feet leaving afterimages on the wooden floor.
“I’m going to the south of the city to buy a sugar figurine—I’ll be back soon!“

In their daze, that black hair had already disappeared around the corner.

The wolf demon’s ears drooped like airplane wings.
He turned his head and met the tiger demon’s face, which was as black as the bottom of a pot.
A fan-sized palm came with a gust of wind.

“What are you standing there for, waiting for the feast to start?! Chase her!“

The moonlight shone through the broken window lattice, illuminating the “weapon” in the hands of the ice sculpture assassin—it was clearly the missing jade hairpin from the dressing table.
Next to the handwriting formed by the water stains, there was also a Q-version snake demon sticking out its tongue, the tip of its tail stuck with the oily paper from half an eaten chestnut cake.