Inside the vast six-star dungeon of Mortal Prison, Fang Mu sat facing the plant demon.
The plant demon did not seem too bad. Even when it had paralyzed Fang Mu, it had not taken the opportunity to attack him.
Of course, the main reason was that this plant demon was timid—extremely timid.
That was what the streams of memory images transmitted to him through its tentacles showed.
For now, Fang Mu called the plant demon Xixi. It really was a watermelon—or at least, it had grown in a watermelon field.
Later, someone had apparently tried to hack it apart with a knife, presumably wanting to eat the watermelon.
Xixi had been terrified and fled with its vines wrapped around it.
The unlucky fool who had raised the knife tripped over the vines and somehow impaled himself with his own blade, killing himself.
Later, a large group of people had hunted it down, yet they had all died bizarre deaths for various strange reasons.
In the end, a group of Demon Slayer Envoys had captured it, but it had escaped from them time and again.
During one pursuit, however, it had accidentally leaped into a six-star demon-catching bag that someone else had opened, and so it was caught.
It was not Tu Qing who had captured it. Clearly, Tu Qing had obtained all these demon-catching bags through his connections.
Fang Mu moved a little farther away from Xixi, feeling that it seemed to carry some terrible bad luck.
Everyone who approached it, intending to capture it, had inexplicably died.
This made Fang Mu hesitate. Should he hack it to death? Would he end up catching its bad luck as well?
"To be honest, I don't want to kill you, but there's a formation outside that detects demons."
"If you can't restrain your aura and conceal your form, there's nothing I can do to help you." Fang Mu looked at Xixi and reminded it.
Although he possessed the Demon Refining Mirror, he knew nothing about Xixi's origins. He could not expose his ultimate trump card.
The Demon Refining Mirror could be said to be Fang Mu's support in this world. Without it, he might not even be as good as the most ordinary demon slayer.
Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, Fang Mu would never casually expose the Demon Refining Mirror for anyone.
Xixi's intelligence seemed fairly high. After hearing Fang Mu's words, its little eyes shifted a few times.
Fang Mu saw it slowly extend its tentacles toward him again. Clearly, it was about to tell him something else.
After hesitating for a moment, Fang Mu ultimately did not dodge the tentacle.
As a tingling sensation spread through him, a pattern appeared on Fang Mu's arm—a tiny watermelon pattern.
Xixi suddenly transformed into a streak of green light, merged into the pattern, and disappeared.
Only then did Fang Mu come back to his senses. Looking at the watermelon pattern on his arm, he was speechless.
That fellow Xixi had actually acknowledged him as its master. Was it really that careless?
It truly suited its timid personality. To preserve its life, it was willing to give up anything.
Fang Mu glanced at the empty dungeon, shook his head helplessly, and turned to leave.
Amid the creaking of the stairwell, Fang Mu returned to the surface.
When he left the dungeon and reached the prison gate, Fang Mu grew somewhat tense.
The prison gate was a formation portal that detected demons. The moment it sensed the aura of a demon or other abnormal being, it would sound an alarm.
With a restless heart, Fang Mu walked through the prison gate.
"Hmph! Fang Mu, why are you sneaking around? Didn't you finish the mission and decide to slip away while you had the chance?"
Just as Fang Mu nervously passed through the prison gate, Sun Hou emerged from a corner and gave him a fright.
Looking at the already darkening sky, Fang Mu had not expected that slaying demons would take him an entire day.
Worried about Fang Jing, he tossed the six empty demon-catching bags to Sun Hou and turned to leave.
Sun Hou froze for a moment. Looking at the six demon-catching bags that had lost their spiritual glow, he was rather surprised.
He had not expected Fang Mu to actually complete the mission.
"You bastard! Get back here!"
Sun Hou roared furiously. Watching Fang Mu leave without even turning his head, he was so enraged that his lungs nearly burst.
"Fine, fine! Get through today first. Tomorrow, I'll see just how many demons you can slay!"
Fang Mu, already far from the Demon Slayer Division, naturally heard Sun Hou's furious roar.
But instead of becoming anxious, he was delighted, and even looked forward to slaying demons the next day.
"Search around and see if you can find any clues about the missing Demon Slayer Envoy."
When Fang Mu reached the corner of an alley, he hid there and watched a patrol of constables search the area nearby.
Those people were merely shouting the words for show. Every one of them looked absent-minded, clearly just going through the motions.
After the patrol left, Fang Mu hurried home.
Fortunately, the door was locked. It seemed no outsiders had come by.
"Brother!"
After opening the door and stepping inside, Fang Mu saw Fang Jing and his clone.
Seeing that Fang Jing's complexion had recovered quite well, he relaxed somewhat.
Fang Jing was surprised by the existence of the clone, but she could more or less accept it.
At least having another person identical to Fang Mu could keep her company, so she would not be so lonely.
Fang Mu felt somewhat guilty. At Fang Jing's invitation, he ate while pondering his worries.
"Xixi."
Suddenly, the watermelon pattern on Fang Mu's arm lit up, and Xixi abruptly appeared on the table.
"Wow, what is that? So... so cute!"
Looking at the watermelon that had suddenly appeared and its adorably silly appearance, Fang Jing stared at it curiously and asked.
Fang Mu frowned at Xixi's sudden appearance. Seeing how much Fang Jing liked it, he introduced her to Xixi's origins.
Having someone to keep Fang Jing company was naturally a good thing, but Xixi's origins were unknown, and it seemed to carry bad luck. Fang Mu did not dare leave it alone with Fang Jing.
From the information Xixi transmitted, Fang Mu learned that once the contract acknowledged him as its master, Xixi could no longer acknowledge a new master.
Even if Fang Mu took the initiative to cancel the contract, it would not work. The contract would become invalid only if either Fang Mu or Xixi died.
"Damn! Why do I feel like I've boarded a pirate ship?"
Fang Mu cursed under his breath. Looking at Fang Jing's delighted face as she played with Xixi, he unexpectedly revealed a faint smile.
The night passed uneventfully. Early the next morning, Fang Mu put Xixi away, locked the door, and left.
Xixi was still a demon, so it was not suitable to leave it at home. If it were discovered, Fang Jing would be implicated.
As for the clone, in a pinch, it could still impersonate him and resolve some troublesome situations.
Mulling over all sorts of matters, Fang Mu arrived at the Demon Slaying Hall.
"Remember your respective dungeon numbers. Go."
As soon as Fang Mu entered the Demon Slaying Hall, the Demon Slayer Envoy Superior had already assigned the demon-slaying missions to the Demon Slayer Envoys and sent them off in different directions.
The benefit of becoming a Demon Slayer Envoy Superior was that one did not need to slay demons every day and could assign missions to the Demon Slayer Envoys instead.
"Hmph! What are you staring blankly for? This is your mission for today. You're not allowed to sleep until you finish slaying them all."
In the main hall of the Demon Slayer Division, Sun Hou saw Fang Mu enter. He did not even look at him and appeared completely absent-minded, yet he immediately snapped irritably.
Looking at the eight or nine demon-catching bags Sun Hou had thrown onto the ground, Fang Mu came back to himself and realized that Tu Qing had not come today.
Fang Mu picked up the demon-catching bags, his face twisting with anger, irritation, and pent-up frustration, then left in a huff.
Sun Hou was already irritated and unhappy. Seeing Fang Mu's gloomy, aggrieved expression, he immediately burst out laughing, feeling much more satisfied.
"Hmph! I can't kill you outright, but I'll increase your workload every day from now on. I'll work you to death!"
Before you continue