A wolf pup

"Junior brother!" Lou Yunxiao's body, which had finally relaxed, abruptly tensed again. "You must stop making jokes like that!"

He had spent several months with Ning Ke.

Lou Yunxiao knew his junior brother loved teasing him and joking around.

But he had always taken matters of the heart seriously.

He simply could not toss such words around the way Ning Ke did.

"Oh, all right, all right, senior brother. I'm sorry. I was wrong."

Seeing that he had ruffled Lou Yunxiao's feathers, Ning Ke quickly stopped and obediently coaxed him.

He hugged Lou Yunxiao tighter and nuzzled against him, wheedling, "Don't be angry with me anymore, senior brother, please? Whatever happened, it's all A Ke's fault. A Ke won't tease you like this again."

"..." Lou Yunxiao thought, There probably isn't anyone in the world who can resist my junior brother when he acts like this.

He relaxed, though he did not forget to add, "Matters of the heart are not a game. You must learn to rein yourself in."

Ning Ke pretended to clutch his head, imitating the Monkey King listening to the Tang Monk chant. "All right, all right, senior brother, stop lecturing me, stop..."

Only then did Lou Yunxiao let him off.

The next day, Ning Ke was woken by the sound of firecrackers.

Little Flame dutifully floated beside him to keep him warm, and the quilt was wrapped tightly around him.

Lou Yunxiao, however, was gone.

Ning Ke put on his fluffy red cloak. The ring of fur around the hood made his face look even smaller. With features so striking and exquisite, anyone who did not know him could easily mistake him for a woman at first glance.

As a result, the moment he stepped outside, the boys and girls who had come under the pretext of playing with Ning Xiaoxiao, but were really there to see the immortal masters, were so dazzled that they forgot what they were doing.

They stared blankly at him.

"Da Niu, if you don't let go, that firecracker will burn your hand!" Ning Xiaoxiao could not help reminding the dark-faced, honest-looking boy.

"Ah!" At her words, the boy hurriedly flung it away, only to throw it straight toward Ning Ke.

"Watch out, immortal master!"

The words had barely left his mouth when he saw that the firecracker had already frozen solid, instantly extinguished, and fallen to the ground.

Ning Ke's eyes curved into a smile as he looked at the approaching Lou Yunxiao and... the husky he was carrying?

More precisely, Lou Yunxiao was using a tree trunk to carry a "husky" that was frozen everywhere except its head, while the husky kept shouting curses.

"You damned sword cultivator! All I did was steal a few sheep and injure a few people. I didn't kill anyone! What gives you the right to capture me?"

"Eldest senior brother, you're back already!" Ning Xiaoxiao walked over and slapped the husky on the head. "You wolf demon! You stole sheep from our Ning Family Village and still won't repent. If we don't teach you a lesson, you'll really think there's no one in our Human Realm who can stop you!"

The boys and girls who had been staring at Ning Ke earlier now gathered around when they saw that Lou Yunxiao had captured the wolf demon, taking turns scolding him.

Lou Yunxiao walked to Ning Ke's side and said, "The villagers said a wolf demon was causing trouble, so I went up the mountain."

He asked Ning Ke, "Did you just wake up?"

"Mm." Ning Ke brushed the dirt off Lou Yunxiao's robes and looked at the wolf demon as well. "What do you plan to do with this wolf?"

There was actually no great enmity between the Human Clan and the Demon Clan. Their past conflicts had mostly been minor skirmishes.

When cultivators slew demons, they only killed the vicious, man-eating demons that slipped into the Human Realm. They did not exterminate other demons indiscriminately.

But Lou Yunxiao was different.

The Demon Clan had slaughtered his entire household, and now he had caught another demon...

Sure enough, the next instant, Lou Yunxiao summoned the Pale Silver Sword and pointed it straight at the wolf demon.

His former gentle exterior shattered piece by piece. The murderous intent surrounding him frightened the watching boys and girls into retreating several steps.

He asked Ning Ke, "What do you think I should do, junior brother?"

The wolf pup sensed something too, and his eyes instantly reddened. "Waaah, you damned sword cultivator, you're not really going to kill me, are you?! Waaah! I'm only a hundred years old! Am I going to die so young? Boohoo-huh?..."

Halfway through, he suddenly noticed Ning Ke beside Lou Yunxiao, and his wolf eyes went round.

"D-Demon Venerable, save..."

"Hahaha, hahaha, senior brother, how about this? Let's investigate first. If this wolf pup hasn't killed anyone, let's spare his life, all right?"

Ning Ke broke into a cold sweat and hurriedly covered the wolf pup's mouth, shooting him meaningful looks. Then he turned to the boys and girls around them and asked, "Everyone, what do you think? Should we kill him or punish him?"

Da Niu blushed as soon as he looked at Ning Ke and hastily lowered his head. "I think he did wrong, but that doesn't mean we have to kill him."

Everyone else nodded too.

Only then did Lou Yunxiao put away his sword, though the chill on his face had not entirely faded.

Before his household had been slaughtered, he had held a tolerant attitude toward the Demon Clan.

Now, however, just as Ning Ke had suspected, he truly had come to hate all demons.

But he remembered that his junior brother A Ke was still beside him, and he wanted to know what Ning Ke would do when faced with something like this.

Because he had companions and friends, he also had to respect everyone's choices.

Ning Ke breathed a sigh of relief, then picked up the wolf pup with one hand and headed behind the house. "Then I'll question him alone first. Wait here a moment."

"Brother, why do you need to question him alone? We can call all the villagers over and question him together!"

"..." What a spectacular way to sabotage your own brother!

Ning Ke smiled awkwardly and said, "All right, go get them, then."

Then he carried the wolf pup as far away as he could and lowered his voice. "You little brat, don't say anything you shouldn't! Otherwise, even I won't be able to save you!"

Demons were especially sensitive to the auras of other demons. It was a connection that existed in their blood.

That was why humans would not recognize Ning Ke, but demons could easily identify him.

This unexpected turn of events had nearly blown his biggest cover.

It had scared him into a cold sweat.

"But Lord Demon Venerable, you're so powerful. How could that damned sword cultivator possibly beat you?"

"My true body is in the Demon Realm! I'm just a tail!"

"Oh! I understand!" The wolf pup's eyes sparkled, his face full of admiration. "Lord Demon Venerable, you must be doing this to investigate the inner workings of their Human Realm sects so you can wipe them all out in one fell swoop! Then you'll unite the Demon Realm and the Human Realm!"

"You're incredible! As expected of our mightiest lord!"

"..." Ning Ke pressed a hand to his forehead and explained, "Think whatever you like, but remember this: don't expose my identity, and don't tell anyone in the Demon Realm about this."

"And one more thing..."

His gaze turned cold. Pressing his hand against the top of the wolf pup's head, he asked,

"Have you really never killed anyone?"

Frightened by his murderous intent, the wolf pup shrank back and hurriedly said, "No! Absolutely not!"