Chapter 92: A Promise
After it was all over, Luo Nianshang still couldn’t believe that the Demon Lord had willingly transferred her destiny to her.
The golden threads had vanished, the room’s layout restored to its original state. Everything was peaceful, as if nothing had happened.
The door suddenly opened, revealing the left envoy, her eyes filled with a barely concealed resentment.
Luo Nianshang, however, didn’t notice her envoy’s disrespect. Her mind was still reeling from the shock. She needed answers.
She turned to the left envoy, her voice laced with confusion. “Why?” she asked. “Why did she give it to me?”
“That was the Demon Lord’s decision,” the left envoy replied, her voice cold. “I don’t know the reason. If you have a message for her, I will relay it. Otherwise, please leave the Demon Palace.”
The Demon Lord, who had always been a well-behaved, obedient disciple in front of Luo Nianshang, was stunned by her left envoy’s rudeness.
She was both angry and anxious. Wasn’t this ruining her chances with Luo Nianshang?
She should have reminded Mo Li to be polite to Luo Nianshang.
She couldn’t correct Mo Li in front of Luo Nianshang, so she simply glared at her, her eyes filled with a silent threat.
The left envoy, sensing the Demon Lord’s displeasure, shivered.
Luo Nianshang, standing up, walked past the left envoy, pausing at the doorway, her voice calm. “Thank your lord for me,” she said. “And tell her to visit me at the Ejian Sect every month, in the middle of the month. She must abstain from killing and… intimacy for a week prior to her visit. Otherwise, the unbinding process will be delayed.”
Then, she vanished.
The left envoy, her mind reeling from the information contained within those words, stood there, speechless.
What had happened? Why was the Demon Lord bound by a restriction?
She thought back to the Demon Lord’s recent actions, then she reached a conclusion.
The Demon Lord had infiltrated the righteous realm because of the restriction. Luo Nianshang must have used a powerful technique to control her, forcing her to transfer her destiny for her own safety.
The more she thought about it, the more convinced she became. She panicked, retrieving the pearl from her pocket, wanting to contact the Demon Lord.
But before she could figure out how to contact her, the pearl grew hot, and the Demon Lord’s voice reached her ears.
“Treat the Sword Saint with the same respect you would treat me,” the Demon Lord ordered. “Do you understand?”
The left envoy, assuming the Demon Lord was simply enduring this humiliation for the sake of her safety, her heart aching, her voice trembling with a forced loyalty, said, “Yes, Your Excellency. Please take care of yourself.”
The Demon Lord, hearing the strange tremor in her voice, was confused. She wasn’t dead yet. Why was Mo Li acting like she was mourning her?
She was about to ask, but Luo Nianshang was staring at her, so she cut off the connection.
She looked up at Luo Nianshang, her expression innocent. “What’s wrong, Master?”
Luo Nianshang, her gaze fixed on the horizon, her voice distant, said, “Nothing.”
She was simply lost in her thoughts. But the Demon Lord would be visiting her soon. She would demand an explanation then.
Meanwhile, in the Demon Realm’s Demon Palace, the door to the Hall of Government was slightly ajar, the stench of alcohol emanating from within.
The right envoy, her brow furrowing in disgust, pushed the door open to find empty wine bottles scattered across the floor. One of them rolled towards her feet.
She kicked the bottles aside, staring at the left envoy, who was slumped over her desk, surrounded by scrolls and jade slips, a wine jug in her hand. She was speechless.
Everyone knew the new left envoy was a workaholic. She never touched alcohol. But now, she was drunk.
Had the Demon Lord corrupted her?
Seeing the left envoy lift the wine jug to her lips, the right envoy snatched it away, her voice sharp. “Stop drinking!”
The left envoy, her vision blurry, struggled to focus, trying to identify the person who had dared to scold her.
Recognizing the right envoy, she chuckled. “Ah, Right Envoy Lin,” she said, her voice slurred. “What brings you here?”
The right envoy tossed the wine jug aside, then settled down across from the left envoy. “If those servants hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have known,” she said. “How long were you planning to drink?”
Although her mind was hazy, the left envoy knew that her relationship with the right envoy was purely professional. This sudden concern was unusual.
She was drowning her sorrows in alcohol, not for herself, but for the Demon Lord. But she couldn’t do anything to help her lord, who was facing a formidable opponent like Luo Nianshang. Alcohol was her only solace.
But she couldn’t reveal her true feelings. This right envoy, like the previous left envoy, wasn’t truly loyal to the Demon Lord.
But she had had enough. Drowning in despair wouldn’t help her lord.
She circulated her demonic energy, purging the alcohol from her system. She was sober again. “I didn’t realize you cared so much, Right Envoy Lin,” she said, her voice laced with a hint of amusement.
The right envoy, seeing her regain her composure, relaxed. She was honest. “I don’t,” she said. “I just don’t want to do your work if you collapse.”
She glanced at the mountain of unprocessed documents, her eyes filled with a mixture of fear and relief.
The left envoy was stunned. So the right envoy was simply trying to avoid extra work. “It is our duty to assist the Demon Lord,” she said, her voice filled with indignation. “How can you be so lazy?”
The right envoy, staring at her, her expression a mixture of amusement and disbelief, thought, “She’s clearly lost her mind. What kind of drug did the Demon Lord give her?”
Now that the left envoy was sober, she had no reason to stay. She stood up, smiling. “You’re right,” she said. “I’ll go assist the Demon Lord.”
She then left, thoughtfully closing the door behind her. The left envoy was alone again.
The left and right envoys were equals. She couldn’t order the right envoy around. She grabbed a wine jug, flinging it at the door. It shattered upon impact.
Her anger spent, she picked up a jade slip, starting to work, but her thoughts kept drifting to the Demon Lord.
She couldn’t focus. She paced her chamber, her anxiety growing, then she seemed to reach a decision.
Meanwhile, the Demon Lord, the subject of her left envoy’s worries, was being pampered by Luo Nianshang. She had casually mentioned wanting to eat rice cakes, and Luo Nianshang had stopped at this small town to fulfill her request.
The Demon Lord, oblivious to her subordinate’s concern, was currently facing a different problem. She had secretly created a body double of Hong Ying and had sent it back to the Ejian Sect to avoid being exposed.
But she had always preferred using puppets instead of body doubles. Body doubles were more difficult to control and more easily detected.
She was afraid Luo Nianshang would discover her deception. What would Luo Nianshang think?
She would probably be suspicious. They were supposed to be enemies. The Demon Lord’s sudden affection was clearly a sign of malicious intent.
She often cursed her own identity. It brought her so much trouble. But she was also grateful for it. Luo Nianshang was so powerful, so aloof. She wouldn’t have been able to get close to her if she hadn’t been the Demon Lord.
She decided she needed to find a way to sever their master-disciple relationship.
She was about to lie when a rice cake was suddenly shoved into her mouth, silencing her.
The rice cake was dense and chewy. She choked, her eyes watering, her hands clutching her chest. She pounded her chest, trying to dislodge it, and finally, it went down.
She gasped for air, feeling like she had narrowly escaped death.
Luo Nianshang panicked. She had grown up in the mountains, her life sheltered. She had never experienced the joys of mortal food. She hadn’t realized rice cakes could be so dangerous.
Perhaps breaking it into smaller pieces would help.
She set the Demon Lord down, carefully breaking the rice cake into bite-sized pieces, then offered one to the Demon Lord.
“This way, you won’t choke,” she said.
The Demon Lord stared at her, her mind blank, her previous plan forgotten. She opened her mouth, accepting the rice cake.
She had only mentioned rice cakes as an excuse to delay their journey, hoping to find an opportunity to escape.
But now, she was reluctant to leave. She had never experienced this kind of tenderness as Hong Ying. Only when she was sick had Luo Nianshang cared for her.
She was greedy. She wanted everything.
But her greed was only for Luo Nianshang.
Luo Nianshang, seeing the Demon Lord’s blank expression, assumed she didn’t like the rice cake. “Do you want something else?” she asked.
The Demon Lord shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes. “No,” she said, her voice trembling. “My mother used to buy me rice cakes.”
She wasn’t acting. Before her life had been shattered, her mother had often brought her sweets and pastries from the town.
She had forgiven them for leaving her behind, bribed by those treats.
Her favorite had been rice cakes. She had never tired of them.
And her mother had broken them into pieces, feeding them to her, just like this.
Perhaps that period of her life had been too happy, so she had blurted it out without thinking. She rarely thought about those days.
Luo Nianshang hadn’t realized she had accidentally triggered a painful memory. She set aside the rice cake, pulling the Demon Lord into her arms, wiping away her tears with her sleeve.
“Don’t cry,” she said, her voice soft.
She was awkward, her attempts at comfort clumsy. She had seen people cry before, but they had usually been crying because of her. The only exception had been Zhu Chi.
Zhu Chi had been heartbroken, but Luo Nianshang had been unable to offer any comfort.
She felt a cold sweat forming on her brow, but children were easier to handle than heartbroken adults.
She patted the Demon Lord’s back, her voice soothing. “It’s okay,” she said. “I’ll be like your mother from now on.”
The Demon Lord nearly choked on her own saliva. She stared at Luo Nianshang, her eyes wide, her sadness forgotten.
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