The Lin Family's Only Daughter

If this had happened in his previous life, Shen Yi would probably have let his imagination run wild about ghosts and gods. 🍫🍫

But now, he sat up and looked beneath the bed.

Something had seemed off from the start. What kind of person would seal off the space beneath a bed with wooden boards?

Without bothering to look for a mechanism, Shen Yi put a little force into it and broke through the boards. He reached out and grabbed the saber beside the bed.

"Whoosh!"

The instant the creature below poked its head out, the blade was already pressed against its throat.

Shen Yi narrowed his eyes.

Under the threat of the blade, the woman's dark hair was disheveled. Her features were delicate, yet carried a hint of heroic spirit. Anger simmered beneath the grime on her face, and a strip of cloth was tied over her mouth. Her muffled sounds didn't seem very complimentary.

Her long robe, once as white as snow, was now barely cleaner than a rag.

Her hands were tied behind her back with hemp rope.

Judging by the faint redness on her forehead, she had probably been ramming her head into the bed boards.

As Shen Yi took in the pretty young woman's face, his expression gradually changed. First came confusion, then irritation. In the end, he could only take a deep breath to steady himself.

You bastard... just how many more messes did you leave me to clean up?!

There was no point getting angry with a dead man. Shen Yi lowered his gaze helplessly and casually pulled the strip of cloth off the woman's face.

"You bastard! You're helping the tiger prey on people! You'll die a horrible death!"

"Let me go! Otherwise, I'll report you to my sect and have you cut into a thousand pieces, you dog! You—"

A flash of silver swept past.

Shen Yi withdrew his saber. The woman stared at the severed hemp rope and opened her mouth, seeming to have more to say, but not knowing what to curse him with next.

He was letting her go just like that?

That wasn't quite what she'd expected.

She licked her dry lips and pondered for a moment. "I'm hungry. Do you have anything to eat?"

Shen Yi glanced at her and shook his head. "Get out."

He did want a woman for company, but he wasn't about to let lust cloud his judgment.

Her identity was far too special. Just thinking about it was enough to keep Shen Yi awake all night.

Baiyun County might not have been particularly prosperous, but it had a few wealthy merchants. The Lin Family was one of them, having made its fortune selling silk.

That alone wouldn't have been a problem.

The Lin Family's only daughter might have been doted on, but she still didn't amount to much in the eyes of the government.

What made her special was the word "only."

For reasons no one understood, Master Lin had a harem of wives and concubines, yet few children, and they had died one after another. Only this daughter remained.

With no other choice, he had adopted a boy to inherit the family business.

As for his daughter, he had spent a fortune sending her away to learn martial arts.

No one had expected her to actually master them... The first thing she did upon returning was take up her sword and hunt demons.

That was when Shen Yi got caught up in it.

She had left the city and, all alone, provoked that pack of Fox Demons. It was a miracle she'd managed to escape with her life.

The reason was that one particular fox had grown curious about the bustling human world and insisted on staging a cat-for-prince swap.

It brought the girl to Shen Yi's home. Not only did it imitate her speech and behavior, it also completely changed its own face to match hers. In the end, Shen Yi himself sent the "seriously injured" fox back to Liu Mansion, supposedly to resolve its memory loss.

Shen Yi had handled everything neatly, and the fox was pleased. So it gave the girl to him as a reward.

As long as she didn't show her face in Baiyun County, he could do whatever he wanted with her. It had even sealed the girl's acupoints especially for that purpose.

"A few days ago, I still got rice porridge every day. Now they won't even give me water. Do you know how I've managed to last these past two days?"

Lin Baiwei struggled weakly to her feet and sat on the edge of the bed.

Shen Yi glanced sideways at her. "You wanted me to let you go, and I did. Why haven't you left?"

A fox that could change its shape at will was far beyond what he could handle right now.

It had entered Lin Mansion but hadn't hurt anyone yet, and Shen Yi didn't want to make things any worse.

"I was just cursing you to make myself feel better. Do you think I'm stupid?"

Lin Baiwei rubbed her stomach and said weakly, "That beast left a seal on me. If I take even one step out of this room, it can come back and take my head within half an hour."

At that, Shen Yi's lips curled into a cold smile. "So, I'm safe for you?"

"If you touch me, I'll fight you to the death." Lin Baiwei glanced at him, her pearly teeth clenched. "But if you don't touch me, I want something to eat!"

From the determined look in her eyes, Shen Yi could tell she really did love eating.

He didn't want to keep arguing about it. "Listen. I'm going to rest now. As for you, do whatever you like, as long as you don't make another sound."

With that, Shen Yi lay back down and tucked his official saber beneath his arm.

"..."

"..."

A moment later, Shen Yi looked back.

He had to admit that Lin Baiwei was very beautiful. Even in this disheveled state, she was the most stunning person he had seen since crossing over.

But even so, it was hard to ignore her sitting beside him like a female ghost, hair hanging loose, expressionless, staring at him with that eerie gaze.

"Are you crazy?"

"I haven't made a sound," Lin Baiwei replied, still staring at him.

"I'm seriously thinking about stuffing you back under the bed." Shen Yi slowly sat up.

"Go ahead. Do you need to tie me up again?" Lin Baiwei held out both hands.

Her attitude made Shen Yi wonder which of them had been the rascal in the past. "Are you trying to latch onto me?"

"I just don't want to die. I need to eat to stay alive." Lin Baiwei's expression was quite calm.

"If you didn't want to die, why did you go and provoke those foxes?" Shen Yi found it absurd. He had thought she was an impulsive young miss, but it turned out she could bend with the wind just fine.

At that, the girl looked at him in confusion. "They prey on the people of Baiyun County. How does that make me the one who provoked them?"

As she spoke, Lin Baiwei suddenly leaned closer. Her fingers gently brushed the front of Shen Yi's robe, where it had been stained red with demon blood.

She sniffed the foul scent like a young beast, then lifted her head. "Besides, aren't you provoking them too?"

"I'm not as stupid as you."

Shen Yi pushed her little face away and said calmly, "Do you really have a sect?"

Being able to recognize the scent of demon blood meant she did have some real skill.

"The Splitting Mountain Peach Blossom Axe, the Peerless Demon-Slaying Sword, the Eighteen Wave-Breaking Palms..."

"For just two steamed buns, how many moves do you want to learn?"

Watching Lin Baiwei count them off on her fingers like she was reciting a menu, Shen Yi's mouth twitched twice. "Go wash up and get some sleep..."

Sure enough, he couldn't expect to get lucky more than once with someone like Chen Ji, who casually pulled a cultivation manual out of nowhere.

His own status panel was still the most reliable.

Seeing him lie back down, Lin Baiwei reluctantly lowered her hand.

Those made-up names hadn't fooled him into giving her food after all.

She watched Shen Yi's back and fell into deep thought.

Could she have been away from home for too long? How had a mere prison guard managed to reach the threshold of the Initial Realm?

Should she come up with another set of names—ones that sounded more convincing?