Who knew how much time had passed.
[Ding! A Demon Race Squad has been detected approaching the outskirts of the Moon Demon Race Territory. Divine Choice activated!]
The system's voice exploded in his mind.
Xuan Ye's eyes flew open.
[Choice One: Take the initiative and eliminate the Demon Race Squad. Reward: Innate Dark Inner Spiritual Power +0.5, Revenge Evolution progress +3%.] [Choice Two: Ignore them and wait to see what happens. Reward: Revenge Evolution progress +0.1%.]
"I choose one."
Xuan Ye silently answered in his mind. His body shifted, and he was about to get up.
"Young Master Xuan Ye?" Yue Chen and Yue Xing were startled by his sudden movement.
"I'm going out for a bit."
Before he could finish speaking, Xuan Ye's figure blurred. He activated Instantaneous Movement Steps and disappeared outside the door.
At the edge of the Moon Demon Race Territory, in a secluded mountain hollow.
A caravan made up of five demons had stopped there. The Lesser Demon leading them impatiently kicked at the stones beneath his feet, cursing the Moon Demon Race for its shameless refusal to sell grain at the agreed-upon price.
A figure appeared silently behind them.
It was Xuan Ye.
He was just about to activate the Chaos Spirit Furnace when an all-too-familiar presence came from farther behind him.
Yueye?
What was she doing here?
Xuan Ye's heart gave a jolt, and he felt a little awkward.
The ones he was about to kill were potential business partners of the Moon Demon Race.
However, the word "customer" didn't even seem to exist in Yueye's mind.
She didn't even glance at the Lesser Demons. From the moment she appeared, her gaze had been fixed on Xuan Ye's back.
She simply raised a hand.
A brilliant stream of Moonlight Power burst from her palm, sweeping across the entire hollow like a tangible ribbon of light.
There were no screams, no struggle.
The five demons and their mounts silently disintegrated in the moonlight, turning into countless specks of light that vanished into nothing.
[Ding! Divine Choice completed!] [Reward: Innate Dark Inner Spiritual Power +0.5, Revenge Evolution progress +3%.]
After dealing with the Demon Race Squad, Yueye flashed in front of Xuan Ye.
Her voice held an urgency he had never heard from her before.
"Why did you suddenly run out here?"
Xuan Ye stared at her, stunned.
She stepped closer, her pale fingers gripping his arm tightly. Her eyes were full of worry and lingering fear.
"Don't you know how dangerous it is to come out here? What if you ran into a powerful demon? What if you got hurt?"
Her voice trembled.
The next moment, as if she needed to make sure he was all right, Yueye began frantically checking him over, from his shoulders to his chest and then his back.
Her movements were hurried, almost frantic.
"Are you okay?"
"Are you all right?"
She kept repeating the words over and over. In her beautiful eyes roiled an emotion Xuan Ye couldn't understand, one that was almost obsessive.
It was as if the world would end if he lost even a single strand of hair.
Being cared about so intensely filled Xuan Ye with warmth.
He could clearly feel how much Yueye cared for him, but he didn't think too deeply about the heavy, twisted meaning hidden behind that concern...
Before the warmth could spread through him, though, Xuan Ye sensed that something was wrong.
Yueye's expression had changed.
Her face was still breathtakingly beautiful, and her smile was still gentle, but deep in her eyes roiled a darkness that sent a chill down his spine.
She gently pulled him into her arms.
Her body was soft, and the fragrance of her hair drifted into his nose.
But the words she whispered by his ear made the blood in Xuan Ye's veins slow for half a beat.
"Xiao Ye, could you stay home and not run around, okay?"
Xiao Ye? What a strange thing to call him.
Her voice was especially gentle, with a hint of almost pleading in it.
"Your big sister's begging you."
Xuan Ye stiffened.
A chill raced from his tailbone to the crown of his head. He didn't dare ask a single question.
Back at their lodgings.
Yueye personally took Xuan Ye to the Cultivation Room.
The Spiritual Power inside was so dense it seemed almost tangible. Several Moonlight Stones embedded in the corners cast a soft glow.
Yueye took a gleaming white herb that shimmered faintly like starlight from her Storage Ring, then brought out a Demon Core wreathed in wisps of black energy.
"This is Starlight Grass. It can stabilize your Spiritual Power. This Demon Core came from a Shadow Leopard. It'll help with your Dark Attribute."
She handed the items to Xuan Ye, then patiently explained a few important points about circulating Spiritual Power during cultivation.
She explained every detail with perfect clarity.
She was attentive and gentle in every way.
But just as Xuan Ye thought her instructions were over, Yueye spoke again.
"Xiao Ye, you're not going out again."
Her voice was still gentle.
"If you want to get stronger, I'll train you myself and have Yue Chen and Yue Xing practice with you, too."
She gazed at Xuan Ye and spoke one word at a time.
"Please, don't run off again, okay?"
A memory long buried in Yueye's mind resurfaced.
When she was young, she had been just as playful, sneaking out of her clan's territory. Her father, Lord Agareus, had been frantic with worry as he searched everywhere for her.
In the end, the clan elders had seized the opportunity to publicly accuse her father of "failing to discipline her." That humiliating scene remained branded on her soul to this day.
She would never allow the same thing to happen to Xuan Ye... to Xiao Ye.
She had to snuff out even the slightest possibility.
She stared at Xuan Ye with stubborn intensity.
Her gaze seemed to say that if Xuan Ye uttered even a single "no," something irreversible would happen.
Looking into her eyes, Xuan Ye felt that chill rise in him again.
He was sure that if he refused, the consequences would be terrifying.
He nodded.
"Okay. I'll stay put and behave."
The moment he spoke, the stubbornness in Yueye's eyes melted away.
A pure smile bloomed on her face, her features relaxing as she stepped forward and hugged Xuan Ye again.
"Good boy."
She gently patted his head, as if soothing a frightened little animal.
Xuan Ye blinked in surprise.
Held in her arms, even the chill in his heart gradually faded.
He closed his eyes slightly. In a daze, he almost felt as if her embrace was as warm as Cai'er's.
As for what Yueye was really thinking, he couldn't be bothered to dwell on it.
He no longer called her "Big Sister Yueye." Resting against her shoulder, he murmured a single word.
"Big Sister."
Cai'er was clearly about the same age as him.
"Mom" was too embarrassing.
But... "Big Sister" was fine.
The night passed without incident.
Xuan Ye couldn't help feeling a little helpless.
It looked like he wouldn't be able to go out and "level up" by completing missions.
Just as expected.
The next night, perhaps because the precious medicinal herbs had healed most of his internal injuries, the system returned to its usual mission frequency.
In the middle of the night, the notification rang right on time.
[Ding! The Host's condition has recovered. Divine Choice activated!] [Undead Demon Race scouts have been spotted in the nearby forest, investigating the Moon Demon Race's grain stores.] [Choice One: Sneak out and kill all the scouts. Reward: Innate Dark Inner Spiritual Power +1, Revenge Evolution progress +8%.] [Choice Two: Inform Yueye of the intelligence. Reward: Revenge Evolution progress +1%.] [Choice Three: Ignore the matter. Reward: Revenge Evolution progress +0.01%.]
Before you continue