Chapter 72 |
In the small shop, two people sat facing each other.
Yuan Yuanyuan looked at the man in the black robe across from her, completely unable to understand what his faint smile meant.
She had always thought they were just colleagues at most. She had even once wondered if he might be one of the Blood Jade Demon Army. But then, thinking about the Blood Jade Demon Army’s survival rate… she dropped that idea immediately.
Yuan Yuanyuan had nothing much to say to him. It felt like they were playing a game of Werewolf—the guy across from her spoke so cryptically that she couldn’t guess a thing, so she just kept pretending along.
She slowly poured him a cup of tea.
“Even considering your situation… it’s still good that you came back,” the black-robed man said. “Although I actually…”
He trailed off mid-sentence, holding the teacup silently.
What now? Why’d you stop? Yuan thought blankly. You’re making this really awkward for me, you know.
Meanwhile, the Qing Daoist Temple was unusually lively.
“Little monk? Why are you always so quiet?” a little girl in white asked.
“Amitabha,” replied the young monk, who looked very young, with a babyish face. He uttered the Buddhist chant and then fell silent.
“What kind of demon is it, anyway?” the little girl in white didn’t seem to mind the silence. She stared curiously at the large formation at the temple’s center.
Near the front gate of Qing Daoist Temple, the usual serene mountain landscape had become eerie and ominous. The closer they got to the sealing day, the clearer the darkness became.
Trees at the foot of the mountain had begun to wither—all within just a month.
As the moment approached, everyone could sense something was off. But since those in power had taken no action, those beneath them naturally continued on, waiting faithfully for the day of the sealing.
Back in the shop, Yuan Yuanyuan took a sip of tea. The man across from her was lightly tapping on the table. He stayed silent for about ten minutes—long enough for the tea to go cold—before finally speaking again.
“Qing Daoist Temple… it’s likely that Yu Wu is going to escape,” said the black-robed man. “You… shouldn’t go out for a while.”
As he spoke, he tapped the cup again, sounding a little nervous.
Yuan lifted her teacup but didn’t drink. Her gaze dropped, long lashes hiding her expression. The man across from her couldn’t see her face—just her lowered eyes.
His lips moved, as if he wanted to say something more. But Yuan deliberately kept her head down so he couldn’t read her emotions.
Yu Wu? What the hell?
Is that a fish? No, focus. The point is—Qing Daoist Temple’s sealed demon… was someone this guy knows?!
Damn. Now I have to seriously reevaluate Yuan’s role in Demon Chronicles. If even this kind of big-shot demon is connected to him, then Yuan must be tangled in a whole lot more plot than I thought.
“I know you hate the people from the old command unit,” the man said, rubbing the teacup, “but… Yu Wu might be the only one left now.”
He stopped again. Yuan, who had barely spoken since he arrived, had already started wildly speculating in her head. From the few vague sentences he’d said, she had pieced together a ton of information.
From the sound of it, she and this Yu Wu definitely had bad blood—and not just ordinary bad blood.
The key word was “command unit.”
That term connected with a lot of what she already knew, and her brain began filling in the gaps.
She put down her teacup. Sitting here in silence was getting awkward. She figured she should respond with something vague. She tried, “What happens if I go out? What happens if I don’t?”
That question visibly stunned the black-robed man. Yuan had only meant to fish for information, not expecting it to land such a hit.
Before she could push further, he simply stood up, finished his tea, and left without another word.
He just left? Without saying anything else?
Standing at the door, Yuan oddly felt like she should be waving a handkerchief goodbye.
“I’ll be stopping by more often from now on. You shouldn’t go out for the time being,” he called back. “Since no one can recognize you now, just stay put. They’re calling you ‘Deng’ now, right? Live under that name from now on.”
Yuan was silent for a few seconds, then nodded.
…
“What the hell, I feel like I’ve been silent more than I’ve spoken lately,” Yuan grumbled while washing dishes.
She felt like all the pretending to be emotionless was wearing her down. If she couldn’t relax here, she’d go crazy.
Stacking up a few cups, she stood and headed to the front. Her expression instantly became more composed. When serving drinks, appearances mattered.
Three days had passed since her conversation with the black-robed man. She smoothed out her dress and knocked on the door to begin her shift. The day job and night shifts were exhausting, and her mind was fuzzy.
On autopilot, she set down glasses on tables, nearly falling asleep on her feet.
In that hazy state, she started overhearing the guests’ conversations.
“You heard about it, right?”
“Yeah, the demons in City H said the sealing failed. That big demon got out.”
“For real? Didn’t they send a bunch of Daoists? How could they still fail?”
Yuan perked up instantly at those words.
She glanced at the guests, then quickly lowered her head.
A demon… escaped a sealing?
Which sealing?
She was sure it was that one, but her brain couldn’t immediately process it. It was like knowing something is true and false at the same time—your thoughts get tangled.
She decided to go dig for more. She stepped outside, wandered through several taverns, and listened. If something big had happened, news would spread fast.
In ten minutes, only a few demons were talking about it.
After twenty minutes, half the tavern knew.
After an hour…
Every demon was talking about one thing:
—The seal at Qing Daoist Temple had failed. The demon got out.
Yuan froze. How the hell did it happen?!
Just two days ago, in the latest chapter, Fa Ning’s words were full of bold promises. And now? Broken in two days?
It was like reading about war in a history book versus watching a bomb fall in your own backyard.
She was itching to know what had really happened. Word was, the escape was a coordinated effort—help from both inside and outside the seal.
By Thursday, she heard that Qing Daoist Temple was in shambles. The demon had been sealed for so long, his aura had become overwhelming. After wreaking havoc on the Daoists, an entire mountain of trees had died overnight.
The humans couldn’t cover it up, so they just claimed a wildfire had burned through the area and closed the mountain to outsiders.
By Friday, she heard the demon had already made it to City S, killed a major demon there, and taken over his territory.
Holy shit—City S?!
That shook her to the core. Why? Because City S was way too close to where the top demon of all demons lived. Like… the side chamber next to the royal palace. One wrong move and the entire demon hierarchy could collapse.
Every day, new rumors dropped—each more terrifying than the last. The whole demon world was in chaos.
Every demon was scrambling for information. You could hear someone burst into a bar shouting:
“That big demon just did something crazy again!”
What made it so unsettling was that this demon wasn’t playing by any known rules. He was doing things so outrageous that no other demon would dare dream of them—yet he had the power to pull it off.
All this madness piled up, giving Yuan a sense of pressure she’d never felt before. And a deep sense of confusion.
She needed to know exactly what had happened.
…
After four days of digging, on the fifth day, she finally saw the full picture in the newest chapter of Demon Chronicles.
From another point of view, she watched the entire event unfold.
And on that very day, a shockwave hit both demons and humans alike—irreversible changes had begun.
—
Latest Chapter of Demon Chronicles —
“W-Who are they…?” Fa Ning struggled to raise his head, staring at the group of demons before him.
He saw the elders of his sect lying on the ground, hair in disarray. He wanted to check if they were alive, but he couldn’t move.
He was already severely injured.
“Are demons today… really this weak?” said the demon who had just escaped. He scanned the battlefield, not even noticing Fa Ning—because to him, Fa Ning was weaker than an ant.
Behind him, the Qing Daoist Temple burned in a forest of black flames.
“Qing Daoist Temple… pathetic,” the demon said, shaking his head. He accepted a robe from a nearby demon and covered his body.
“Last I remember, the war hadn’t ended yet when I was sealed. Looks like we lost… maybe I’m the only one left now.”
“No… actually, someone else survived,” a small demon nearby spoke up nervously.
“Oh? Who?” The big demon looked intrigued, amused, waiting for the answer.
“It’s… the Blood Jade Demon Army. One of them recently reappeared…”
“Blood Jade Demon Army?” the demon’s face immediately darkened.
The smaller demons trembled, nearly falling to their knees. Fa Ning, still lying on the ground, thought, Blood Jade Demon Army? Are they talking about Yuan?
What’s going on? Why did that name trigger such a reaction? Is there some dark secret behind the Blood Jade Demon Army?
After a long silence, the big demon suddenly laughed.
“Now this is getting fun… If it really is someone from the Blood Jade Demon Army, then they are traitors to our kind. They deserve to die a thousand times over.”
His laugh became more twisted. Fa Ning, watching from the ground, grew increasingly terrified.
In the next moment, the demon looked at the nearby temple. With a wave of his sleeve, it erupted in black fire.
Fa Ning’s eyes widened. He tried to shout, but only coughed up blood.
The demon slowly smoothed his long hair, took one last glance at the ruined temple, and turned to leave.
At the bottom of the page, the words appeared:
“Volume One – End.”