"She let all your food escape-chu!"
Yu Xuelan's eyelids were heavy. She felt them flutter and close while the world continued to slip back into darkness. The girl attempted to make out the muffling noises but failed inexplicably to discern what those noises came from.
Hearing that familiar squeaky voice, her head throbbed. Yet, she couldn't move her body, no matter how hard she tried.
"Is she waking up-chu?"
"Let her be. She's just food."
As the murmurs in the room continued, Yu Xuelan forced her sunken eyelids to lift, only to see another unfamiliar view once again. She slowly adjusted her eyes to the different view.
After a few seconds, she realized her wrist and legs was bound by chains that prevented them from moving, or rather escaping. She tried to look behind her and noticed they weren't just any chains, but spiritual chains. This tool prevented cultivators from exerting any sort of Qi from their bodies, thus suppressing their internal energy flow.
Yu Xuelan's body was lying on the ground and before her lined an unfamiliar figure sitting on a chair pompously.
She recognized the rat from before and sighed in disappointment. The number of times she had fallen unconscious made her want to laugh at how pathetic she was.
Yu Xuelan glimpsed around and examined her surroundings, noticing that there were dark stains all over the walls and floor.
The room was well constructed, but the rancid scent that lingered in the atmosphere ruined this. It seemed to have come from the chewed bones and chunks of meat lying on the floor which were befitting for the Demon God's image.
"She has woken up-chu!"
Yu Xuelan didn't have time to worry about her situation, she was more concerned with where Long Wen went and of course, her beloved twin sister Lin Changying.
Her eyes drifted to the figure sitting on the chair and blinked a couple more times. She realized it wasn't a regular chair he was sitting on, but a pile of skulls.
"Bo Fan...?" Yu Xuelan mumbled.
The man was rather youthful-looking. Compared to the images she once saw of him, she thought he would be old and deformed.
"It's Demon God to you! Pay your respects to the Young Master-chu!" the rat demanded.
The corner of his lips raised, almost reaching the bottom of his eyes. He laughed hysterically. "I'm glad you know! That's right, I'm the Earth Demon God, Bo Fan! I've heard a lot about you."
He got up from his seat and walked closer to the girl.
"You let all my beautiful food escape," he seethed and narrowed his eyes as veins protruded from his forehead and fists.
Yu Xuelan stared at the man, unsure of what to reply. Her eyes wandered to the corner of the room as something had caught her eye.
It was Long Wen's sabre, Huo Yan.
Bo Fan saw Yu Xuelan had landed her eyes on the sacred weapon and he smirked sinisterly, "Don't worry, I promise I won't spare a single bone of that disgusting cultivator."
Yu Xuelan remained silent while the man started laughing before crouching down to meet her at eye level.
He started laughing, slapping the skulls beside him. "What are you going to do? Cry? I love how humans are always worrying about their friends! It's so funny to watch them see each other die!"
"Do you think I wouldn't know what kind of bullshit you and that cultivator were pulling? Do you really think you could escape me?"
Bo Fan laughed, "I already sent an entire army to kill my food that escaped to Hufeng City. While they're all having the time of their life, they won't even know what's coming."
"Are you listening to what the master is saying-chu?!"
Yu Xuelan ignored the rat and closed her eyes, attentively listening to her surroundings. She tried to hear signs of Long Wen's footsteps or even Lin Changying's, but sadly, her throbbing head prevented her from focusing on the surrounding sounds.
Bo Fan scoffed, "My years' worth of collection and you cultivators just come and ruin my fun."
He snarled, "Just you wait. My demons will engulf the entire city in terror and tonight I'll have the most massive banquet yet!"
"Chuchu, make sure that no males pass my lair," he ordered.
"What should I do with them-chu?"
"Just throw them into the new garden! Are you stupid?!"
The rat demon instantly scurried away, leaving only Yu Xuelan and Bo Fan alone.
Bo Fan lifted Yu Xuelan's chin, examining her face from left to right, narrowing his brows. While the distance between them was short, Yu Xuelan used this opportunity to study the lips of the Demon God, noticing they were stained with fresh blood.
She lowered her eyes and thought if Lin Changying had really been eaten, then maybe her efforts were all in vain. But if she had to be honest, she felt obliged to keep Changying alive because she was Lin Yuhe's sister, and of course because her commandment note was probably with her.
"Wait... You..." Bo Fan muttered.
Yu Xuelan stared at him in confusion, but put no effort into resisting his grasp.
"Why do you smell like them?" He grunted and continued examining her from head to toe, but Yu Xuelan stayed silent. "You smell like those fish bastards!"
"Don't tell me Yu Yang sent you here?!" He exclaimed and threw her away. "You should've told me Yu Yang sent you here!"
Instantly, Yu Xuelan's heavy heart sank. Many thoughts rushed and clouded her mind, but hearing that specific name made her throat dry. Those two characters. Those two characters made her blood boil and swirl in disgust. Contempt. Disappointment.
Yu Yang and this demon are related? Huh.
It must've been because she was around Meixiang and Yue that their "scent" somehow rubbed onto her, but how sensitive was this guy's nose that he knew what the people of HaiShen Yu smelled like?
"Is that bastard saying he wants to break the contract?! Even after asking me for such an annoying favour?! He even sent such a lousy cultivator to let my food run wild!"
Yu Xuelan rapidly connected the dots together and was amused by his words. An agreement with a Demon God? How interesting. She knew whatever she said right now would affect the relationship between HaiShen Yu and Bo Fan. He could launch an attack on the sect if she was to say anything wrong, although it seemed like he would attack the sect either way.
"Well, I was getting tired of it, anyway. Your Sect Master is crazy, I tell you. He's fucking crazy!"
Yu Xuelan didn't know what to think. There were too many thoughts in her head, yet none of those thoughts were clear at all. However, Bo Fan took it the other way. He thought Yu Xuelan's heart was filled with anger, madness, rage because he was talking crap about her Sect Master, so seeing her listen so obediently encouraged him to ramble on even more.
He scoffed in delight. "Let this great one inform you, since you're so oblivious. The louder you scream in despair, knowing how corrupted your master is, the more excited I'll get when eating your bones after all!"
He glowered down at Yu Xuelan, who was still tied up, sitting on the ground.
"The reason your Sect Master is so strong now is because he ATE someone!"