Your sword is very rude

"What nonsense!" Lin Yao said, speechless. "This is the snake demon Chimei, the Great Demon you colluded with. He probably wants you to report in."

"Are you kidding? If I go meet him and someone finds out, I'm dead," Lin Qingyang complained.

"But if you don't go, aren't you afraid he'll get angry and spill what you did?" Lin Yao said.

Lin Qingyang irritably raked a hand through his hair, then said, "Maybe I should just run away while they haven't found out yet."

"That's an option too. I know a few places secluded from the world that ordinary people can't find," Lin Yao agreed.

He acted at once. Following Lin Yao's directions, Lin Qingyang found a Qiankun Bag and stuffed the room's spirit stones and magical artifacts into it-anything worth money.

"I didn't expect the original owner to have saved up so much!" Lin Qingyang marveled as he packed.

He found another exquisite little box at the very back of the cabinet. Thinking some treasure was hidden inside, he opened it, only to find another curved blade. The sheath bore a similar beast-head design, much like the one in Shi Ruobai's room. The two curved blades seemed to be a pair.

Lin Qingyang paused. That unfamiliar heartache welled up again, tugging at his emotions. If he left just like this, would Shi Ruobai die of poisoning, just as he had at the end of the original novel?

Conflict showed on his face for a long while. His hands picked things up to pack them, then put them down again. In the end, he turned to the Windflower Sword on the table and said:

"Maybe I should go see Chimei first after all. Xue Lanyuan won't trace anything back to me for now anyway. Running away can wait another day."

Lin Yao sounded entirely unsurprised. "I knew it!"

Late at night, in the bamboo grove on the Back Mountain.

A flash of light suddenly flared, and Lin Qingyang appeared out of thin air, then landed flat on the ground, face down with his limbs splayed. Under Lin Yao's guidance, he had finally learned the Movement Technique, but he had yet to master it.

The Windflower Sword hovered in front of him, the gem in the center of its hilt shining exceptionally brightly, like a little flashlight. Lin Yao said with a laugh:

"You may rise, my good minister."

"Show some respect! Even you're taking advantage of me!" Lin Qingyang climbed to his feet and dusted himself off.

"When did you learn to fly?" Lin Qingyang asked, looking at the Windflower Sword floating in midair.

"A new skill I just discovered." As Lin Yao spoke, the whole sword smugly circled Lin Qingyang several more times.

The man and sword headed deeper into the bamboo grove, with Lin Yao beside him lighting the way. Dark mountain woods stretched to either side, filled with shadowy leaves and the eerie sound of the wind. Heading deep into the mountain forest on a dark, windy night to meet a demon-the more Lin Qingyang thought about it, the more a chill crept down his back.

"The Nine Skies Sect looks pretty nice during the day, but it's still quite scary at night," Lin Qingyang said, surveying his surroundings.

"You're a full-fledged elder, for goodness' sake. Could you show a little backbone?" Lin Yao complained.

"Speaking of which, what exactly does Chimei look like?" Lin Qingyang asked.

"Who am I supposed to ask?"

"You're the author, lady!"

"This is just part of a villain's backstory. It only got a couple of sentences in the actual novel. Who would work out that many details? But demon villains like this usually look pretty frightening," Lin Yao said.

As they spoke, a sinister gust swept past. Lin Qingyang involuntarily stopped, then heard a cold, eerie voice echo slowly through the air. "Lin Qingyang!"

Lin Qingyang jumped in fright. What the hell? It sounds like he's summoning a soul, he grumbled inwardly. He looked around and called somewhat hesitantly, "Chimei?"

"It's me!" the cold voice answered again.

Lin Qingyang shone the Windflower Sword all around but saw no one.

"Where are you?"

"Look down!" Chimei sounded a little impatient.

Lin Qingyang tugged Lin Yao down to shine the light over the ground, but still saw nothing.

"You're not here either!"

"Lower!" Chimei said impatiently.

The voice seemed to come from the ground, so Lin Qingyang crouched and carefully shone the light down. This time, he saw a little green snake as thick as his pinky, its upper body raised off the ground and its red-glowing eyes fixed on him.

Somewhat astonished, Lin Qingyang called again, "Chimei?"

"Lower your hand!" Chimei's deep, cold voice was entirely at odds with the little green snake.

Lin Qingyang held out his hand, and the little snake climbed onto his wrist. Its cold, slippery touch raised goosebumps all over him. Fighting the urge to fling it away, he raised his hand to eye level and stared at this Chimei in disbelief.

Lin Yao circled the little snake, then said, speechless, "You're Chimei? You're way too small! Anyone who didn't know would think you were an earthworm."

"Your sword is very rude!" Chimei said unhappily.

"Sorry!" Lin Qingyang pulled Lin Yao back and whispered, "Why blurt out the truth?"

"This isn't my true body!" Chimei explained irritably. "The Nine Skies Sect has restrictions. I can't get in, so I could only attach my Divine Sense to its body. If you want to blame anything, blame the snakes in your Nine Skies Sect for being too small!"

The more Chimei spoke, the angrier he became. If he could get in himself, why would he need to cooperate with this treacherous member of the Human Clan?

"What did you want to see me about?" Lin Qingyang steered the conversation back to business.

"Why isn't that brat dead yet?" Chimei asked.

"You mean Qi Mo?" Lin Qingyang asked.

"We had an agreement. I help you get rid of Shi Ruobai, and you get rid of that brat for me! You're not thinking of backing out, are you?" Chimei's cold voice echoed in his ears.

Lin Qingyang frowned. So Qi Mo hadn't been falsely accused out of bad luck; it had been a carefully laid scheme.

"Killing a mere Demon Slave is hardly a big deal. Why would I need to back out?" Lin Qingyang gave a couple of cold chuckles, imitating a villain. "It's just that he's an important suspect now. I can't very well kill him outright."

"Hmph. You really think I don't know about the public trial? If you hadn't interfered today, that brat would already be dead," Chimei snorted coldly.

Lin Qingyang chuckled twice and said calmly, "Are all you demons this naive? The Nine Skies Sect is a renowned righteous sect. How could it torture him to death in full public view? Besides, everyone's still counting on him to reveal something about the sect leader's poisoning! What happened today was arranged in advance. If I hadn't stepped in to stop it, someone else would have!"

"Then when exactly are you going to finish him off?" Chimei demanded impatiently.

Lin Qingyang gave a cold laugh and said quietly, "What's the hurry? I still haven't gotten what I want!"