"It's said that becoming a cultivator at Guang Han Sect is extremely hard. Because the sisters' parents were always gone, Su Ying had to arrange their entrance into sects herself, but she couldn't get her sister in. That's why Su E had to go to Chen Xing Mountain and enter Zhenren Qing Guang's sect..." Yan Hui continued to talk about Ling Fei. Tian Yao, who was listening without any expression, stiffly cut her off: "How is this related to the fox demon?"
Yan Hui knew Tian Yao didn't want to hear anymore about Su E, so she didn't continue. She went along with Tian Yao's change of topic and talked about the fox demon.
"What you said earlier was actually true. That night, I refused her pleas, but she didn't leave. For the next few nights, she appeared in my dreams. Sometimes she would cry; sometimes she would plead. In the end, she wore me down..."
Tian Yao raised an eyebrow: "You helped her get her daughter back?"
Yan Hui glanced at him: "Do you really think I had that ability?" She continued, "Aside from the bad relations between me and Ling Fei, there was still the matter of the identity of the fox demon's daughter. The reason why she was at Chen Xing Mountain is because the disciples discovered she was a demon and captured her. She was imprisoned in the demon prison. Me, a xian cultivation disciple, asking for a demon from Ling Fei? They would think I'm crazy."
Tian Yao nodded: "Turns out, sometimes you do use your head."
"..."
Yan Hui naturally wasn't as stupid as Tian Yao said.
But that three-tailed fox demon wanted Yan Hui to free her daughter. Before Yan Hui agreed to help, she had already subconsciously started to keep track of when the disciples at Xin Xiu Peak changed shifts. By the time the fox demon wore Yan Hui down, she had already memorized the schedule Ling Xiao Sect had for the demon prison. She knew how many disciples there were per shift and when the shifts changed.
Although Yan Hui was accepted into the sect at a late age, she learned extremely fast. She was the most outstanding disciple in her class.
After learning the shift rotations, Yan Hui was able to sneak into Xin Xiu Peak's demon prison during the shift change with only a minor disguise.
But there was a hiccup when she let the demons loose.
Ling Xiao had captured and brought back demons before. Yan Hui had also kept guard over those demons locked in cages. She assumed the cages in Xin Xiu Peak would be practically the same: one demon per cell, iron bars, an iron lock, and a few seals placed on the cage.
However when Yan Hui walked into Xin Xiu Peak's demon prison, she was stunned. The air inside was extremely bad; it was hot and stuffy. At first, Yan Hui thought the place was naturally like this, but then she saw a narrow cell crammed with twenty demons inside. She realized in a split second why this place was so oppressive.
Because the prison was so small the demons were crammed into a pile. Their faces were abnormally flushed. It was like they couldn't get enough air.
When the demons saw Yan Hui, who was wearing the clothing of Chen Xing Mountain's disciples, the demons all looked at her in fear. They tried their hardest to shrink into the cell's corners. All eyes were fixated on Yan Hui in terror. They were fearful of what might happen next.
All of the demons looked young. Using the demon's way of calculating age, the demons in the cage were around 14 or 15 years old. Yan Hui heard these demons were those that Ling Fei and other Peaks' heads captured.
It looked like when they brought the demons back, they separated the young from the old.
And the strange thing was...all the captured demons were fox demons.
Yan Hui stood in front of the cage for a moment with a furrowed face. In that moment, a young female fox demon was so scared that she started to cry.
Yan Hui's gaze fell on that fox demon. A young male fox demon wearing dark clothing immediately stepped in front of the crying fox demon, blocking her from Yan Hui's sight. The teen hatefully glared at Yan Hui: "What do you guys want now?"
Yan Hui raised an eyebrow. She didn't bother to explain and only said: "Which one is Bai Xiao Lu?"
No one answered. Aside from that hateful youngster, everyone else was trembling in fear.
Yan Hui sighed. This was going to be troublesome. To release the fox demon's daughter, she had to open the cage door. But with the fox demons piled into the cage, there was no way Yan Hui could open the door to release just one fox demon. The demons weren't stupid. They would all seize that chance to escape.
Yan Hui couldn't say she was here to save someone, but if she just continued to talk to them, the demons would think she was here for nefarious reasons. Unless Bai Xiao Lu was an idiot, the fox demon wouldn't voluntarily give herself up.
Yan Hui mulled over this tricky situation. In the end, she could only threaten them: "If you don't give yourself up, then I'll just have to take a random person in your place." No one wanted to die. Yan Hui thought for sure someone would give Bai Xiao Lu up.
But she didn't expect that before she could finish, the teenager spoke up: "Don't try to scare us. I'll go with you."
Yan Hui glared at the boy and took a deep breath. That brat was trying to be a hero and ended up ruining everything.
"Open the door. I'll go with you. Kill me or beat me. Do as you wish."
"Whoever values him, come with me." Yan Hui threw him a disdainful look. She thought, these demons are still small. They don't seem murderous nor harmful yet. Furthermore, when these demons are releases and Xin Xiu Peak's disciples are confused in the chaos, it'll be easier for me to take Bai Xiao Lu away...
Thinking of this, Yan Hui sighed and muttered: "Alright, alright, since I'm going to do this anyways, it doesn't matter if it gets messy."
Yan Hui looked at the huddled fox demons and said: "I'm not here to harm you." Saying this, she started to rip the seals off of the cage, one by one. Then she broke the metal lock with one blow and stepped in front of the door: "Which one is Bai Xiao Lu? I'll let you all go once you tell me."
Even if the youngster wanted to play being hero, there was no use at this point. That's because some of the other fox demons involuntarily looked at Bai Xiao Lu.
Looking at the trembling girl, Yan Hui let out her breath and stepped to the side: "You're free to go."
Despite hearing those four words, the fox demons were still hesitant. But when an eager female fox demons took two steps toward the door, the teenager wearing dark clothing immediately said: "Don't believe her. It's a trap."
Yan Hui shot the teen a look but didn't try to explain. However the female fox demon was too impatient to leave, she steeled herself and rushed out the door. Yan Hui didn't try to block her and allowed the demon to run away.
Yan Hui crossed her arms and languidly leaned against the wall. She asked: "Are you all not leaving?"
With those words, the other fox demons rushed out the door. Outside, the disciples of Xin Xiu Peak quickly discovered the demons had escaped. It was a ruckus.
Very quickly, the only ones left in the prison was the teenager and the stupidly-staring Bai Xiao Lu.
Yan Hui walked into the cell. She ignored the boy and squatted in front of Bai Xiao Lu. Yan Hui saw the girl was still trembling and patted her head.
Although this cute girl was a demon, she was still someone who had lost her mother. Yan Hui ruefully said: "Your mom used dreams to beg me to save you. Come with me."
Bai Xiao Lu looked up at Yan Hui: "My mom? But my mom....has passed away."
Yan Hui looked at the black aura gathered by the girl's side. Yan Hui knew it was the three-tailed fox demon. Yan Hui looked at the mother who had endlessly repeated her pleas. The three-tailed fox demon's moist eyes focused only on her daughter. Her lips trembled, and there was an complex sorrowful expression on her face.
Yan Hui sighed. She pulled Bai Xiao Lu up: "There's no time. I'll take you out of Chen Xing Mountain first. Then I'll explain things."
Yan Hui brought Bai Xiao Lu to the cell door, but the dark-clothed youth was still standing in the middle of the cell. When Yan Hui was about to leave the cell, he suddenly stepped in front and blocked her path. He focused his gaze on Yan Hui and solemnly asked: "You are a xian cultivator. Why are you helping demons?"
The teenager was shorter than Yan Hui by a head. Yan Hui heard the question and laughed. She flippantly pinched his cheek. Yan Hui looked into his eyes and said: "That's because you don't understand that a woman's heart is as gentle as water."
She let go of the youth's face and then pushed him to the side: "Don't block the way. Big Sister is busy."
The youth touched his face, stunned. He stared at Yan Hui, and his ears slowly flushed red. He silently watched Yan Hui lead Bai Xiao Lu away.
Tian Yao listened up to this point and then shot a glance at the very smug Yan Hui. He silently took a sip of tea.
"I can be very suave. Just a pinch of the face, and I captured a young demon's heart." Yan Hui seemed very proud.
Tian Yao gave her a flat look: "He was just being embarrassed by your shamelessness."
Yan Hui was silent and looked askance at Tian Yao: "Why are your words getting more vicious? Did you secretly drink some chili soup [1] ?"
Tian Yao took another sip of water: "What happened next? You escaped Chen Xing Mountain with the little fox girl?"
Yan Hui smirked: "We were discovered by a few of Xin Xiu Peak's disciples, but with my quick wit, I was able to fool them. For fun, I tricked them into searching another area for demons. Then I sent Bai Xiao Lu off."
Tian Yao raised an eyebrow in skepticism: "If you were successful in rescuing the little fox demon, then why did the mom find you again?"
"Not exactly...." Yan Hui sighed. She seemed perplexed and vexed. "I was able to rescue the little fox demon and get her away from Chen Xing Mountain. But in the end....she ran too slow and was recaptured."
"So the fox demon wants you to save her daughter again?"
"Pretty much, but I can't return to Chen Xing Mountain now. And on top of that, the fox demon is just crying and wailing in my dreams. I can't understand what she's trying to say." Yan Hui rubbed the space between her eyebrows. "Furthermore, her evil aura is heavier than before. It's practically racing down the path of becoming a malicious spirit."
Tian Yao listened and was silent.
Yan Hui continued: "The demons that were securely locked in Xin Xiu Peak's prison had suddenly all escaped. Naturally the head of Xin Xiu Peak, Ling Fei, had to investigate. After investigating, she found out it was me. The disciples I encountered when I was escaping with Bai Xiao Lu identified me as being at Xin Xiu Peak that day. Then.....they extorted a confession from Bai Xiao Lu. In the end, they forced out that it was me."
"And then you were expelled?"
Yan Hui smirked and shook her head: "Shifu wouldn't kick me out just for letting out a few demons. From before until then, I had already gotten into plenty of scrapes."
"Oh, then why were you kicked out?"
Yan Hui leaned her head back against the wall. She thought back for a moment and then laughed. She sweetly said: "Ah, probably because I beat up Ling Fei." She smirked and laughed again, revealing a small canine. She seemed a little wicked. "Beat her up pretty badly."
"..."
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[1] Did you secretly drink some chili soup
I'm assuming this is a Chinese idiom. In any case, I left as-is since the meaning is pretty clear
Ahaha I love Yan Hui! She's brash yet kind.