Demons

As for Li Qi, the sight of this young woman finally brought a smile to his face. He opened his mouth, revealing a row of gleaming white teeth.

Why?

Because she was awake. That meant far less trouble.

Besides, one look told him this woman was rich. Her clothes were made of gauze silk.

What a joke—Li Qi had not even touched gauze silk in his life. Even the wealthy and middle-class households of Lizhou City that he might come into contact with mostly wore cotton cloth. As for a poor bastard like him, having hemp clothes to wear was already pretty good.

What did gauze silk signify?

At the very least, she had to be the daughter of some great landowner, right?

There was only one problem...

If she really was wealthy, then spending money to hire capable people should not have been difficult. Why had it dragged on until now, letting a group of passersby like them rescue her?

He could not make heads or tails of it.

Still, perhaps it was merely a coincidence.

But... there might also be another reason. One could not afford to let down one's guard. Better test her a little.

With those thoughts in mind, Li Qi said, "Miss..."

"Ah, urgh—!" Shen Shuibi shuddered in fright, making a strange noise in her throat. She even rolled away.

Ba Kui glanced at her and frowned. "This woman was probably frightened witless by those demons. She's gone mad. Now that's troublesome."

"Not troublesome, not troublesome. Better if she's mad—then no one has to take responsibility. Once you've had a taste, toss her aside anywhere and she'll run off herself. We won't even have to do anything," said a traveling merchant nearby.

Li Qi understood these traveling merchants even better now. No wonder A'Du had not dared travel with them and could only seek out unfamiliar passersby.

These people were likely merchants in ordinary times, but the moment an opportunity arose, they would turn into thieves at once. They did not care in the slightest about doing evil. Perhaps they possessed a little loyalty, but like Li Kui, they only had petty loyalty toward individuals, without any sense of right and wrong.

As for great righteousness, that required holding the whole world in one's heart. Li Qi felt that a fucking towman like himself had no standing to speak of it.

But before he could say anything, Shen Shuibi sprang to her feet at those words. "I... I'm not mad! You... don't... don't..." She stammered for a long while before finally forcing out, "Don't touch me!"

Compared to her stutter, the way she got to her feet was exceptionally nimble, nothing like someone who had been jolted about all night.

Because that man called Li Qi had a terrifying smile, his teeth bared as though he wanted to eat someone.

No—eat a rabbit.

As for Li Qi, he was rather baffled.

This time, he did not pause, asking in one breath, "Miss, what is your name?"

He did not know what this woman had misunderstood, but she did not seem especially bright. He should guide her first.

"I... my name is Shen Shuibi."

"My name is Li Qi. Miss Shen, were you kidnapped by that monster before? Do you remember where your home is?" Li Qi asked again.

"My home is in Jiannan..." Shen Shuibi replied instinctively, then suddenly came to her senses and hurriedly covered her mouth.

"Jiannan?" Li Qi was taken aback. He had never heard of such a place. Was there somewhere called Jiannan near Lizhou?

He looked toward the traveling merchants around him. These people wandered everywhere buying and selling goods, so they should know more place names.

Yet the merchants all looked thoroughly bewildered as well. None had ever heard of it.

A'Du, however, thought for a moment before suddenly saying, "I once traveled with a great merchant's caravan. I heard them chatting idly and learned that the Tang Kingdom has a place called Jiannan Circuit. Could that be it?"

"The Tang Kingdom?" Li Qi frowned. "Miss Shen, are you from the Tang Kingdom?"

"No, no! It must just be the same name! I, I... my Jiannan is a small place, very small. It's normal that you haven't heard of it!" Shen Shuibi said in a panic.

"Then, Miss Shen, did those demons have anything to do with you?"

"No, nothing!" Shen Shuibi answered immediately!

At once, all the traveling merchants took a step back and drew their woodcutting knives.

A'Du also retreated to the rear.

Shen Shuibi immediately realized she had said the wrong thing.

Tears were practically about to fall from her eyes.

When she was at Your Highness's side, she had never lied!

And now not only did she have to lie, but she was stammering through it, so clumsy that anyone could see through it at a glance.

Li Qi, however, did not turn around. Instead, he placed his hand behind his back and quietly gestured for the others to leave quickly.

Then, as if he had not noticed the commotion behind him at all, he walked forward. "Is that so? It's good that there's no connection. You scared me to death," Li Qi said, scratching his head and offering a friendly smile.

"Eh..." Shen Shuibi looked confused.

Had this person... actually been fooled?

"Still, I'm sorry, Miss. We're all working folk with no great skills. We can't escort you back to Jiannan, and we aren't familiar with the terrain either. We're simply not capable enough. How about we part ways here?" Li Qi said politely.

The moment Shen Shuibi heard that, delight welled up in her heart. Forgetting everything else, she hurriedly nodded.

"Then it's settled. We'll be on our way first, and I'm afraid you'll have to return home by yourself, Miss," Li Qi said with a kindly expression.

"It's nothing, really nothing! I can go back by myself!" Shen Shuibi said hurriedly.

"Then we'll part ways here. The rice cakes in the pot haven't been touched—we ladled them into bowls to share. Miss, you can eat first and fill your stomach," Li Qi added.

"Thank you!" Shen Shuibi repeatedly lowered her head in thanks, already forgetting what it was that had frightened her awake.

After Li Qi finished speaking, he turned around and signaled the others with his eyes.

The merchants immediately tucked away their machetes, hoisted their baskets onto their backs, and took off running without even bothering with the pot!

Li Qi followed without hesitation, racing wildly down the road with A'Du!

What a joke! That thing behind them was most likely a demon!

And it looked no different from a person—it was probably a demon capable of Form Transformation. That Wild Dog demon was one hundred percent connected to her!

They had no idea what she was thinking, but while this demon's brain did not seem to work too well, shouldn't they hurry up and run? Were they courting death?

With Li Qi having steadied that demon, the group broke into another mad sprint. They had no mind for idle chatter along the way, only hurried onward. From dawn, they drank nothing but water and did not even have time to eat. At last, by dusk, they reached Feng County.

They had finally arrived at Feng County. Everyone could catch their breath.

Even Ba Kui raised a thumb at this moment. Though he was so exhausted he could barely catch his breath, he still praised him, "Huff... wheeze... Brother Li Qi, I'm truly impressed! Facing a demon, you could actually stay so calm!"

"I didn't expect it either... huff, ha... haha." Li Qi too was panting heavily. "I didn't expect that demon to be so easy to talk to. She seemed like an idiot... I'd even been prepared—if she couldn't keep up the act of being innocent and kind, we'd rise up and fight her! But I never expected her to keep acting all the way through. That was the only reason we managed to get away!"

"Big Brother Li was still the one who kept his head. He knew that demon was pretending to be a good person and didn't startle the snake in the grass, letting us escape. If we'd exposed ourselves, we might have ended up in another bloody brawl," A'Du quickly added.