Sword Demon 1

When I told the other swords about seeing Qiao Jiashu, all the swords blew their tops.

Pojun was so angry that his sword aura shot in all directions, slashing the window paper to shreds. Danzhu also gritted his teeth fiercely, "Didn't he die?! Why is his lingering ghost still haunting Master?!"

Bai Li was also indignant, "Exactly! He made Master depressed for so many years, yet he still has the nerve to come back!"

"Master has been like a completely different person ever since meeting him!"

"Yeah! Think about how free and uninhibited Master used to be. If it weren't for him, Master wouldn't have become a homebody!"

The swords one after another expressed their envy, jealousy, and hatred toward Master's old lover. I patted Longyuan's sword stand. "Alright, stop arguing. Didn't you guys hear the main point?!"

Pojun actually still asked foolishly, "Isn't the main point that Master's old lover is back?"

I rolled my eyes. "He was bitten to death by a Nine-Tailed Fox back then! He died without a complete corpse! How could he suddenly be perfectly intact?! Furthermore, he tried to kill Master in the pagoda, and he can even turn into a giant green python!"

Danzhu shrugged. "Maybe he was a snake demon to begin with."

"...Even if Master hadn't reached the fifth realm back then, he wouldn't be unable to distinguish between a human and a demon. Plus, I'm also very sure that Qiao Jiashu is absolutely human, because demons aren't nearly as two-faced and manipulative as him..." I was always very confident in my own judgment.

Longyuan, who had been standing silently to the side, suddenly said, "Perhaps, it's the Reincarnation Spell."

All of our sword heads instantly turned toward him, almost simultaneously asking, "What in the world is the Reincarnation Spell?!"

Longyuan furrowed his sword-like eyebrows and said with some hesitation, "I only heard my master Qiu Mushuang mention it. It's said that Jiuli has an evil art that can transfer a dead person's Life Soul into a living creature. The resurrected dead person could be human, or they could become an animal or a demon."

Pojun dutifully reminded him, "Qiu Mushuang is your former master; Master is your current master."

"That's not the point!" I shoved Pojun's face aside and leaned close to Longyuan. "Then is the person still the same person after being resurrected?"

Longyuan remained silent for a moment. "I don't know. Logically speaking, the person is already dead. Even if he resurrects, the continuity of his life has been broken. Whether the one who comes back to life is the same person as before, no one can say for sure."

"Not to mention he went from a human to a snake demon," Danzhu pondered, resting his peacock feather fan against his jaw. "Maybe this Qiao Jiashu was brainwashed by the people of Jiuli? Otherwise, why would he try to kill Master?"

Jiuli indeed hasn't been peaceful lately. Although we sword spirits lived secluded lives, we also heard the maids mention that a formidable Demon Emperor had emerged in Jiuli. It was said that his strength was comparable to the Great Demon God Chiyou of the primordial era, and he threatened to trample the Central Plains so that the demons, monsters, ghosts, and spirits of the world would no longer be oppressed by humans. This caused the residents near Jiuli to flee and seek refuge one after another. This time, the Zhenming Pagoda was destroyed and Guiche was released. Could it also be related to the rise of this Demon Emperor?

After thinking for a long time, I couldn't make any sense of it. Anyway, it wasn't something a sword spirit like me needed to worry about. Thus, all of us swords reached a consensus: the number one threat was changed from the Bixie Palace Master to Qiao Jiashu. From now on, the moment we see him, we will immediately issue a red alert, and all the swords will fly out together to kick him away. It's just that I didn't know if that Bixie Palace Master had left yet, or if he was still making moves on Master?

The more I thought about it, the more uneasy I felt. I decided to go to Liushuang Hall to investigate after nightfall. I only hoped that the place was already empty...

Tonight just so happened to have a full moon. The moon appeared even larger than usual, hanging right above the Shushan Sect. The moonlight flowed everywhere like spilling quicksilver. I transformed into human form and flew toward the pear blossom forest that looked like thousands of piles of scattered snow. Standing on a treetop, I looked toward the palaces and only saw scattered, flickering lights from the night patrol guards. However, all the lights inside the palaces were extinguished, and there was no sound of music.

As I stood on the top of the tree, craning my neck to search for traces of the Bixie Palace Master, I suddenly felt a tug at the corner of my clothes. Lowering my head, I saw a pair of large eyes brimming with moonlight.

With a yell, I kicked out. Only to hear a tragic scream as a brat fell down, taking a flurry of pear blossoms with him...

Why is it this brat again... How does he find me every time...

I rushed down and caught him before he hit the ground, twirling as we landed on the surface. Actually, I was initially opposed to doing something like spinning to look cool. But as I spun, my clothes fluttered wildly, and the pear blossoms drifted down elegantly. It felt very handsome and gave off a cool aura, so I went ahead and spun twice anyway.

Sure enough, the brat was stunned by this divine sword's heroic and valiant posture. He blinked his big eyes and looked at me. "Brother Hei Yu, you seem to really like our family's pear trees?"

I asked, "When did these pear trees become your family's?"

"Our family's palace is built here, so these pear trees are naturally our family's."

I put the little scoundrel on the ground and forcefully pinched his tender tofu-like cheeks. "Did your dad teach you this kind of bastard logic? Then if you dig a hole in the ground and bury your little willy in it, does that mean you've r*ped the whole world?"

Yin Fushu immediately looked at me with a face full of worship. "Wow! Brother Hei Yu, you're so insightful! Why didn't I think of that!"

As he spoke, he actually squatted down and started digging a hole with a small wooden stick...

I really didn't know what to say. This is why psychologically unsound men aren't fit to have children... because the children they produce will likely be just as unsound...

I squatted down and looked at Yin Fushu, who was humming a little tune while digging his hole. "When is your dad returning to the Bixie Palace?"

He tilted his head and thought for a moment. "I don't know. Seems like he's waiting to marry my stepmother before leaving?"

My body trembled. "Stepmother?! What stepmother?"

"That great beauty of your Shushan Sect." He said with a 'you're so dumb' expression.

The thing I worried about the most had indeed happened... It's all Qiao Jiashu's fault. This jinx was finally about to leave, but by breaking into the Zhenming Pagoda, he ended up bringing the guy back... Master's chastity is now truly in imminent danger...

Seeing my miserable face, Yin Fushu asked innocently, "Brother Hei Yu, do you hate my dad?"

I said viciously, "Anyone who covets Master's chastity is my enemy!"

Yin Fushu seemed to think about it with great distress. "Then do you hate me too?"

At this moment, his large eyes were brimming with tears, reflecting a pool of moonlight. That look seemed to say: 'Are you even human... er, a sword... if you can hate such a cute child like me...'

So I cleared my throat and rubbed my nose. "Uh... you... you're alright."

Yin Fushu suddenly cheered up, an adorkably silly smile blooming on his little face. His two large eyes curved into crescents as he grabbed my hand and led me deeper into the woods. I didn't know what this little brat wanted to do, but seeing that it was still early, I let him drag me along. Suddenly, a small clearing appeared in the pear blossom forest. In the clearing, there was a stone table surrounded by four stone chairs, and on the stone table laid many... scraps of paper?

I stepped closer to take a look and found that some of the paper scraps had already been pieced together, vaguely forming the image of a person holding a sword.

I asked, "What's this?"

Yin Fushu replied, "A jigsaw puzzle. My dad said that as long as I put this picture together, my mom will appear! Brother Hei Yu, I've been trying to piece it together for so long but can't. Will you help me put it together?"

I took a look. There were probably several thousand of those paper scraps... the smallest ones were only about the size of a copper coin... How long would this take to finish? I figured that the Bixie Palace Master's original wife must have died, and he couldn't bear to tell the little brat, so he came up with this impossible task, expecting that the kid would eventually give up when he couldn't do it...

So I asked, "Who is your mom?"

The little guy shook his head. "I don't know either. But the person drawn in this picture is my mom."

I said, "Why will your mom appear after you finish piecing it together?"

"Because my dad said so."

Your dad doesn't want you to piece it together at all, okay? If your mom could still come back, why would your dad be pestering my master all day... I looked at the sky. It was already the period of Chou; doesn't this kid need to sleep?

"Uh... Brother still has things to do. How about you slowly piece it together first? I'll come help you when I have time?" As soon as I said this, I wanted to slip away. After all, I didn't want to waste a whole night putting together a puzzle; I had just started reading my copy of The Romantic History of Wushan... But just as I took a step, I heard the pitter-patter of sobbing from behind.

"Boo hoo hoo... Brother Hei Yu really doesn't like me after all... I'm an unwanted child..."

I turned my head back, and the little guy was actually raising his sleeve to wipe his tears. Under the moonlight, the shadows of thousands of trees danced, clustering together like demons, while a tiny figure stood beside a large pile of paper scraps, wiping his tears helplessly. The scene was as tragic as it could get...

I looked up at the sky and sighed deeply. "Alright, alright, stop crying. I'll help you piece it together, okay!"

Then, this kid's tears evaporated cleanly in an instant, and he ran gleefully to the stone table to start earnestly looking for the right pieces of paper. Damn it, is it really okay for kids nowadays to have such vivid and masterful acting skills? Even Danzhu probably didn't have this level of skill to release and retract emotions so freely...

We spent the better part of the night piecing it together. By the time the sky started to turn blue, the little guy had already fallen asleep. I was also dizzy from piecing the puzzle together, thinking that as soon as I sent him back to Liushuang Hall, I would hurry back to the Sword Collection Pavilion to rest. I picked him up, flew over the pear blossom forest, and leapt into Liushuang Hall. Although this cluster of buildings had been constructed in a short period of time, there were quite a few palaces and pavilions. I flew over several roofs before finding a red palace that looked like a bedchamber. There weren't many guards either, so I carried him and jumped through a window that wasn't shut tight. This bedchamber was quite magnificent, with crane-beak palace lanterns lit everywhere. On the low couch at the very front of the main hall sat a Screen of the Deer King, depicting the scene of the Nine-Colored Deer saving people. The tall and mighty stag held its slender neck high, the silvery-white antlers on its head shining brightly, and the nine colors of its fur dazzling in a kaleidoscopic display, seemingly flowing and changing depending on the viewing angle. Come to think of it, the Nine-Colored Deer was the Bixie Palace Master's true form, originally a god of the forest who cultivated into a human form. Looking at it this way, this was most likely the Bixie Palace Master's bedchamber. Yet in the middle of the night, he actually wasn't sleeping in the hall. Could it be that he went to harass Master again? No... I have to hurry back...

I laid Yin Fushu down on that wide, large bed, tucked him in with the quilt, and hurriedly flew out of the great hall. However, the moment I stepped onto the roof, I discovered another person was also on the roof. Our eyes met, and we both froze.

Isn't this the Snow-Hair who came running to steal medicine three months ago?!

The Snow-Hair saw me and also pointed a finger at me. "You... you..."

I quickly went over, covered his mouth, hoisted him onto my shoulder, and flew out of Liushuang Hall, landing in the pear blossom forest. The moment I let go of him, he pointed at me and yelled, "Why is it you again!!!"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm the one who should be saying that, right? What are you running to Liushuang Hall for again? Is your brother alright now?"

He was taken aback. "What Liushuang Hall?"

...Don't tell me he took the wrong path and thought this place was the Shushan Sect... With his sense of direction being this terrible, how could his brother feel at ease letting him out?!