Under the dim candlelight.
A person and a cat were huddled together, looking at an indecent booklet.
The cat blinked its eyes.
Its eyes, like colored glaze, rippled with layers of ripples.
Meanwhile, the Princess Consort of Zhen Nan's face flushed red as she looked at those embarrassing poses.
"Pah!"
"Truly vile and shameless!"
"Only sultry vixens would look at such things."
She couldn't help but spit out in disgust.
Afterward...
She continued to read on.
Her face grew redder, her lips clenched tighter, and the white lion cat curled up into a ball, whimpering and meowing as if crying.
After a long while, the entire picture album had been leafed through.
The Princess Consort of Zhen Nan let out a breath of foul air and emotionlessly put the album away.
She picked up a wooden basin and tidied two pieces of undergarments.
Opening the door, she walked outside.
"Your Highness, it's so late, where are you going?"
The young maid asked in confusion.
The princess consort paused and left a dry remark.
"To bathe, to wash undergarments!"
Saying that, she quickly headed toward the back mountain.
Behind her, the lion cat that had watched the entire album followed closely.
It, too, needed a bath.
...
Two hours later, in the Demon Lord's Hall.
Fang Yang, clad in a black robe, came out with an expressionless face.
An aura of profound mystery always shrouded him.
He looked like an abyss, enigmatic and utterly inscrutable.
The ones guarding the door were the same cult followers who had been outside the secret chamber earlier.
As soon as they saw Fang Yang emerge.
They all bowed their heads in unison.
They felt an intimidating pressure emanating from the Demon Lord's body.
This pressure, as if it came from the heavenly laws, made their souls tremble.
It was more formidable than any time before.
Only when the Demon Lord was about to leave the Demon Lord's Hall did the group begin to gingerly speculate,
"Why do I feel like the Demon Lord is stronger than before?"
"I feel the same, could it be that the Demon Lord has made a breakthrough?"
"Impossible, right? Everyone outside is saying that the Demon Lord has gone into demonic deviation, otherwise, why would he close himself off for a whole month?"
"..."
The crowd whispered their speculations.
Only the cult follower who had been slapped by Fang Yang looked a bit disappointed as he murmured.
"No, this isn't right, the Demon Lord used to slap me every time he came out!"
No sooner had his words fallen than a shadow flickered before him.
Slap!
The sound of a slap exploded.
Before he could react, he fell to the ground.
As he got up, his face was marked with five fresh red finger prints.
Only then did he smile with satisfaction and nodded approvingly.
"The Demon Lord has slapped me again, now I can rest assured..."
His words hadn't finished when he abruptly stopped, a look of terror spreading across his face.
"No! The force in the Demon Lord's slap was at least fifty percent less than before! This has never happened! Could it be that the Demon Lord is really injured?"
"No good, we must report this to the protector! The Demon Lord's injury is a major concern! It's very likely to agitate many people within our sect and even provoke murderous intentions from outsiders!"
"The protector must protect the Demon Lord as soon as possible!"
Thinking this, the cult follower did not hesitate and swiftly vanished into the distance.
...
[Forbidden love... can be understood. Sometimes, one need not care about the opinions of others.]
A slightly pained narration echoed in the ears, Fang Yang rubbed his palms with a full head of black lines.
He had never imagined that.
The Blood Rain Demon Lord, as well as that cult follower, would have such peculiar tastes.
Fortunately, Fang Yang had heard that sentence just now; otherwise, he might have already been exposed.
However, this also reminded him that he must not let his guard down.
This Demon Lord was so twisted—who knew how many unrecorded quirks he had?
He must observe carefully.
"Xuan Tian's Strategy, the effect is good, I can continue to cultivate it in the future."
"However," according to the diary, the Demon Lord and the Princess Consort of Zhen Nan almost toiled daily without missing a single day. It seems, in order to maintain the persona and not arouse suspicion from others, I must visit the Princess Consort of Zhen Nan tonight."
Fang Yang slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, feeling the pressure was immense, as if he were shouldering an enormous weight.
And the thought of continuing this way of life every day made him even more helpless.
This helplessness was not physical.
Daily toil was a piece of cake for him from his past life.
There couldn't possibly be a man who couldn't even achieve this on a daily basis, right?
Ridiculous!
What truly made him helpless was that as a man of integrity, he truly did not want to inherit the legacy of Wei Wu, but happened to be left with a big mess by the Demon Lord that he had to tackle reluctantly.
Now, the only thing that kept him going was the possibility that the Princess Consort of Zhen Nan might bring him some affinity points!
After all, the Senior Disciple should not be provoked for the time being.
The Princess Consort was the only person he could manage.
Only by relying on affinity points to draw some items and obtain some life-saving cards could he survive the grand event in three months.
Otherwise, with cultivation alone,
He would never reach the Four-Leaf Dharma Body state within three months.
It could be frankly said that the Princess Consort was his only hope of survival.
"It looks like tonight will be a tough battle."
He sighed and walked towards the courtyard where the Princess Consort of Zhen Nan resided.
...
The Wutong Courtyard.
The lights were flickering...
"What? The Princess Consort? You want to assassinate that Demon Lord?"
The young maid's eyes were wide open with disbelief.
Just now, after the Princess Consort had returned from her bath, she told her that she would perish alongside the Demon Lord tonight.
This news struck her like thunder, leaving her mind buzzing even now.
"That's right!"
"That Demon Lord has ruined my life, imprisoning me here for three years. Every single day, I've lived a life worse than death."
"Now, I have implanted a Heart Demon in his mind. I must risk it all to kill him and end everything."
The Princess Consort of Zhen Nan wore a gauze dress, her wet hair draped over her shoulders, with a similarly drenched white snow lion-cat by her side.
The Princess Consort clenched her silver teeth.
Her eyes were filled with deep-seated hatred.
Having to bathe and wash clothing four times a day, she was running out of clothes to change into.
Thinking back to her conduct in the hot spring, which was mortifying like never before,
She wished she could flay the Demon Lord alive.
"Heart Demon? What Heart Demon? Princess Consort, when did you gain such ability?"
"This..."
The Princess Consort stuttered, unsure how to begin, her exquisite face clouding over with uncertainty.
She couldn't possibly tell her own maid that she had planted the Heart Demon by being forcefully kissed by the Demon Lord.
As much as this repulsed the Demon Lord, potentially causing him to go mad,
It made it seem as if she had suffered a loss.
No, she definitely couldn't let this out!
"You needn't worry about that. The Demon Lord is at his weakest right now, and I have devised a foolproof plan."
"It will definitely catch that Demon Lord off guard and leave him dumbfounded. After that, he will die by my hand."
She was brimming with confidence, as if she had everything under control.
But as the young maid looked at the Princess Consort's spirited demeanor and thought about the provocative clothes she wore today, she felt uneasy.
With a sobbing tone, she pleaded,
"Princess Consort, that Demon Lord is deceitful and cunning, can we not assassinate him? We can live well here, and I will serve you for a lifetime."
"No, I stand irreconcilable against that Demon Lord! Ling'er, this matter has nothing to do with you; he's imprisoning me, not as focused on you. Escape from the mountain quickly, take Xiao Xue with you—I don't want you to be implicated."
Han Lingxuan waved her hand decisively.
"No! I won't go. I was picked up by the Princess Consort on the street; I would rather die than leave."
The maid's eyes began to redden.
Tears fell like pearls off a broken string.
The two argued back and forth.
Until...
Footsteps sounded from outside the courtyard.