Reunited with Hu Jiujiu

"Where are the herbs?" Hu Jiujiu held out her little hand and directly demanded them from the Great Pangolin Demon.

The Great Pangolin Demon shook its head, its tiny mung-bean-sized eyes filled with innocence.

Smack!

Without another word, Hu Jiujiu raised her hand and slapped the Great Pangolin Demon on the forehead. It yelped and shrank its neck, clutching its head with both claws as it looked pitifully at its little mistress.

"If you didn't gather the herbs, why did you come back?" Hu Jiujiu planted her hands on her hips, her delicate brows standing on end as anger colored her voice.

She did look rather tyrannical.

The nearby Demon Clan guards saw the scene from afar and all shrank their necks. They kept patrolling with their eyes fixed straight ahead, not daring to spare their young mistress another glance at such a time.

Come to think of it, everyone in Demon Valley knew one thing—their young mistress had been in a bad mood lately.

And not merely bad. Extremely bad.

As for why, no one could say. They only knew that she had seemed like a different person since returning from outside. All day, she was either spacing out or losing her temper. She had even inexplicably captured a group of human experts and forced them to build houses.

Build houses! They were the Demon Clan, for goodness' sake!

Since ancient times, demons had lived in demon caves. That was the only way to have any demonic presence.

And most strangely of all, their young mistress had remained in human form lately.

Something was clearly amiss. At a time like this, no one dared to argue with their young mistress, much less provoke her.

"An alchemist! I found an alchemist!" The Great Pangolin Demon did not dare keep up the suspense and hurriedly spoke before it could receive a second slap.

Interestingly, it too spoke the human language, enunciating clearly. Though its pronunciation was somewhat stiff, its meaning was perfectly clear.

Sure enough, Hu Jiujiu's impatient expression instantly vanished.

She waved her little hands happily, unable to suppress the excitement in her voice. "Quick, take me to capture—no, invite him."

She forcibly swallowed the word "capture" halfway through and replaced it with the more refined word, "invite."

The Great Pangolin Demon did not dare delay. It dropped to all fours and led the way.

Hu Jiujiu followed it, her steps as light as if she were walking on clouds. She hummed an off-key tune along the way, drawing sidelong glances from the demons on both sides of the mountain path.

Before long, the Great Pangolin Demon led her through several mountain passes to the entrance of a hidden valley.

From far away, Hu Jiujiu's nose caught a rich medicinal fragrance. Merely breathing it in made her meridians feel at ease.

Her heartbeat inexplicably quickened, and her pace unconsciously grew faster and faster until she broke into a jog.

After rounding a bend in the stream, the view suddenly opened up.

On a gravel bank beside the stream, three crude wooden barrels stood in a row. A young man sat in each barrel, dark green medicinal liquid reaching their chests, with only their heads exposed above the surface. Every one of them was drenched in sweat.

A medicinal fragrance so thick it seemed impossible to disperse filled the air, mingling with steam and hanging over the valley.

Hu Jiujiu's gaze immediately locked onto the person in the middle barrel.

That familiar face, that calm and composed expression, that faintly upturned corner of his mouth—she blinked once, then again, making sure she had not seen wrong.

At that moment, Lin Yu saw her as well.

He froze for a moment, then an undisguised smile of delight bloomed across his face. He waved his dripping wet hand at her and called out, "Hehe, Little Demon, we meet again."

Hu Jiujiu froze for an instant.

In that brief instant, it was as though something had struck her mind, bringing every thought to a halt.

Then, an uncontrollable surge of joy erupted from the depths of her heart, leaving her whole body a little dizzy.

The corners of her mouth rose beyond her control, climbing higher and higher until they formed an almost overly radiant smile.

She spread her arms as though she wanted to embrace the entire valley and loudly announced to the surroundings, "Hahaha, this is destiny! From now on, you're mine!"

Her voice echoed back and forth through the valley, startling a flock of birds into flight.

It was as though she were making a declaration to heaven and earth, to the mountains and rivers, to every living creature in the forest—as though shouting it aloud would truly make Lin Yu hers.

Lin Yu was still soaking in the bath barrel, dark green medicinal liquid steaming around him and turning his entire body red. He looked like an ingredient being boiled in a soup pot.

In the two barrels beside him, Yao Chen grimaced as he gritted his teeth. Though he did not cry out, his little face was scrunched up like a steamed bun.

Feng Xian was far less composed. Both hands clutched the rim of the barrel tightly, the veins in his neck bulging like earthworms as he wailed nonstop. His cries were as miserable as if someone were skinning him alive.

"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts! I'm dying! I'm really dying!" Feng Xian's screams rose and fell, each one more miserable than the last.

Only after declaring her "ownership" did Hu Jiujiu have the leisure to carefully examine the comical sight before her.

Three living humans were soaking themselves in scalding medicinal broth. Bubbles gurgled across the surface, and three faces appeared and disappeared amid the rising steam.

Tilting her head, she darted over to Lin Yu's barrel, crouched beside it, and leaned close. Her lively eyes were filled with confusion.

"Hey, why are you cooking yourselves?"

She asked with an innocent expression, her tone carrying genuine bewilderment.

"Yao Chen made this medicinal bath. He said it works well." Lin Yu answered calmly, as though soaking in boiling medicinal liquid was no different from soaking in a hot spring.

Hu Jiujiu blinked, then looked at Feng Xian in the neighboring barrel, who was howling in agony. The contrast was simply too stark.

On one side was Lin Yu, calm as an old monk in meditation. On the other was Feng Xian, squealing like a pig being slaughtered.

She could not help bursting into laughter.

Just then, a series of earthshaking footsteps came from behind Hu Jiujiu.

The enormous black bear had followed the medicinal scent over as well. Its huge nose kept twitching in the air, saliva dripping from the corners of its mouth and pooling on the ground.

It stretched out a massive bear paw and pointed at the nearest bath barrel, letting out a deep rumble from its throat. "Roar?"

The meaning could not have been clearer—these humans were cooking themselves, so could they be eaten now?

"No, you can't eat them. They aren't cooking themselves, you stupid bear. Get lost. If you dare lay a paw on them, I'll steam you."

Hu Jiujiu turned around, planted her hands on her hips, and scolded the giant bear in a fierce tone.

The giant bear let out a wronged whimper and slowly backed away with its enormous body.

Its bell-sized bear eyes were filled with confusion.

That was not right. Hadn't Miss said last time that if it laid a paw on a human, she would stew its bear paw?

Why had laying a paw on them become steaming it this time? Steaming was far more miserable than having its paw stewed!

They were both humans, so why was the treatment so different? What was so special about the human soaking in that barrel?

The stupid bear could not figure it out. Its pitifully limited brain capacity simply could not understand the situation before it, but even it could see that its young mistress was clearly being far too friendly toward this human.

She had just announced that this human was hers. She had captured so many humans before—when had she ever said something like that?

The giant bear squatted in the distance, tilting its huge head and propping its chin on one paw as it sank into deep confusion.