Chapter 73 |
After months of serialization, Demon Chronicles suddenly announced the end of Volume One, leaving countless readers completely baffled.
Everyone had been enjoying the protagonist’s daily power-up routines and secretly guessing the plot development: probably something like the sealing ceremony at the sect would be sabotaged, the exorcists would heroically reverse the crisis, and the demon would eventually be sealed.
Maybe Fa Ning would even do something amazing, earn some prestige, and rise to glory or something… So how did things suddenly turn out like this?
The abrupt plot twist left all the readers stunned. The appearance of that huge demon at the end completely changed the tone of the manga. If it was a typical shounen action series before, this twist shocked everyone.
Who the heck was that enormous demon?
What exactly was the Blood Jade Demon Army?
And that’s not even the most important part—the real kicker was… why the hell did Fa Ning’s home base get completely incinerated out of nowhere?! Not even a scrap left!
Since when did manga start pulling stuff like this?! Whose power-up protagonist has their home base demolished on a whim?!
Why were the humans suddenly getting their butts kicked? And why did Yuan suddenly become a traitor?
What is going on?! What am I even reading?! I’ve been following this for three months and I feel like I know nothing! How is it that everything important only dropped in the last few pages of Volume One?!
The readers went wild. Everyone felt like they’d been reading in the dark for months, and then, calmly, the official website posted:
“Demon Chronicles Volume One is complete. Up next, author Ji Qiu will take a two-week break. Let’s begin the journey again after two weeks~~”
Ji Qiu once again demonstrated his unpredictability. He straight-up announced a two-week hiatus. Fans were tearing their hair out—he had been updating diligently during all the slow, daily-life parts, but now, at the crucial moment, he pulls a famous-mangaka move and takes a break.
…
Yuan Yuanyuan sat in the shop. Lately, the tavern had been unusually crowded with demons. After all, it was the kind of place where people exchanged information freely—many demons came to swap stories.
Workers in such places often knew a lot—like that one old gossip in Lu Xiaofeng, who lived in a brothel and knew secrets others couldn’t dream of. This tavern wasn’t quite a brothel, but it definitely had that “service industry” vibe.
Even though Yuan hadn’t personally done anything shady, the bar itself wasn’t exactly clean. Back in the day, even humans were smuggling goods here, which said plenty about how deep the waters ran.
Sometimes when customers got drunk, their tongues would loosen and they’d blurt out some wild stuff. Even someone like Yuan—who was a total newbie to the demon world—had picked up a lot in the past few months.
She now had a basic grasp of the current political map of the demon realm. Back during the Second War, it was the pureblood demons who clashed most violently with humans. Demons once occupied huge swaths of land, but after the war, humans emerged victorious and drove demons out of their original territories.
There had even been a demon capital relocation—the chief of all demons moved his residence from City M to City A. That demon capital still existed to this day, and the enormous demon now living in City S resided just next to it.
Currently, the population split was roughly into three kinds: pure demon zones, human zones, and mixed zones. As for other spirit races like ghosts, their settlements weren’t so neatly divided.
C City, for example, was considered a mixed demon-human city. They were open and accepting of all. No walls or barriers, yet few Daoists dared venture in.
One reason: it was already deep within demon territory. Not easy for humans to reach. Two: C City had a reputation for being wild and lawless for years, yet still relatively safe for ordinary people—so Daoists usually didn’t come looking for trouble.
But as the saying goes, “If your luck holds, you can survive anything.” Fa Ning himself spent a long time here back when he was just a noob.
When Yuan entered with a tray, she spotted a girl in a pale yellow outfit embroidered with light pink flowers.
Her eyes were large and sparkling.
The girl had two round buns tied up on her head, and her big eyes twinkled like a golden oriole—adorable beyond words.
Even among the many women in this place, she was one who had genuinely surprised Yuan with her beauty.
Some drunken customer seemed to be getting handsy with her, and she was trying to fend him off, flustered and at a loss.
Compared to her, another woman in bold red makeup looked far more imposing…
Yuan kept her head down, placed the drinks on the table, and didn’t even glance their way.
She cleaned up a bit outside, then grabbed a few jars to take into the back when she saw the yellow-clothed girl stroll out, casually swinging a few long jade pendants with tassels.
“Hey? Yuanyuan, don’t go. Is Si Qun in the kitchen?” she called out excitedly when she spotted Yuan.
Yuan shook her head.
This yellow-clothed girl was a little con artist. Yuan hadn’t known that at first, but after a few months here, she’d figured it out.
She loved to lie. Everyone in the tavern had been tricked by her at some point. Lately, she’d gotten interested in Si Qun and was always asking about his whereabouts—Yuan usually brushed her off.
Yuan looked at the jade pendants in her hand and wondered whose things she’d stolen this time. She remembered the girl’s fingers weren’t exactly clean…
“Hey, if you tell me where Si Qun is, I’ll tell you a secret,” the girl whispered in Yuan’s ear.
“No, I’m good.” Yuan instinctively tried to flee with her tray but got yanked back.
“Come on, it’s boring if only I know,” she insisted, pulling Yuan back and whispering, “I heard that the higher-ups have decided to place that demon Yuan under house arrest. That’s why he hasn’t shown up lately—he’s been silenced.”
Yuan’s eyebrow twitched subtly.
…Huh?
She turned, trying to leave again, only to be pulled back by her collar. “Is Si Qun as handsome as in the manga? I’ve never seen him. Li Zi treats him like her precious baby.”
“…Yes,” Yuan replied.
The yellow-clothed girl finally let her go. Yuan returned to the kitchen, half-amused, half-exasperated.
Despite all the gossip about Si Qun, most of the current attention was still focused on the Sanqing Daoist Temple. Rumor had it that they’d suffered immense losses—many elders were severely injured or even dead. The younger generation had also taken a hit. The original plan had been to send elites from the new generation to gain experience, and instead… it was a massacre.
Fa Ning had survived, but was gravely wounded. Yuan had been hoping to see how Ji Qiu would illustrate the next chapter—then he pulled this stunt with a two-week break.
Demons in the tavern were celebrating like it was New Year’s… If not for the scary temperament of that massive demon, they’d probably be lighting firecrackers already.
Yuan casually searched a Demon Chronicles fan forum to see what the fans thought—and instantly got hit in the face with a flood of chaotic posts.
“AAAAHHH HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!!! Yuan can’t be a traitor, right?! I refuse to believe it!!!”
“…Calm down. It’s basically confirmed. He’s the only Blood Jade Demon Army member left in the story.”
“How am I supposed to calm down?! I’ve got cursed taste—I liked Aizen, liked Snape, and they all turned out not how I expected! I’ve got a bad feeling about this one too!”
“I’m shook. I thought Yuan was the protagonist’s buddy or some cool support character… Turns out he’s a damn villain?! Revealed in the last few pages of Volume One! Who predicted this?!”
“Me. Ji Qiu did a great job though… totally changed the tone from typical shounen to something else entirely.”
“Yuan always felt a little off to me… I was wondering what the Blood Jade Demon Army even was, why there was so much buildup. Then bam—huge plot twist.”
“Honestly, Blood Jade sounded like some rookie rank at first… but now? Turns out it’s top-tier terrifying.”
“Heh. So he’s a traitor… a demon traitor, apparently. I thought saving that human girl was kinda sus.”
“Yeah, even if he’s handsome, betraying your own kind? I just can’t like that. I don’t like traitors—even if I’m human.”
“Wanna fight? Come on, let’s go! I love me a pretty face!”
“…He does look like a proper villain though. Him and that naked giant demon both have the face for it. I’ll stick with my righteous white-robed prince.”
Yuan set down her phone, rubbed her temple, and spent a couple seconds thinking. She now had a pretty good grasp of the situation.
Basically, based on Ji Qiu’s hints, everyone had realized: Yuan = the “traitor.”
From the various setups, it was clear there had been a war between humans and demons, and Yuan had likely betrayed his own side during that war.
This was a complete 180° from previous plotlines. Yuan had been the guy saving girls and helping ghosts—universally seen as a kind, righteous demon.
Now that the “traitor” label was out there, the fandom had split into two camps.
Some fans couldn’t accept it and turned from fans to haters. Others found it exciting—finally, a villain with real depth and charisma.
Of course, the truth of the matter… who could’ve guessed? That’d be like uncovering the June Snow murder mystery.
Yuan sighed and set her phone down.
The black-robed man across from her sipped his tea and said quietly, “You’ve been going out a lot lately.”
“Yeah, so?” Yuan replied casually.
They had been living together for two weeks now. She’d gone from being scared stiff to comfortably playing with her phone in front of him…
Because, honestly, this black-robed man was just as laid-back as she was.
“Don’t go out anymore… A lot of demons from outside have come to C City recently,” he said. “Also… I have a question.”
“What?”
“You…” he hesitated for a long time, clearly unsure if he should say it. Eventually, he raised his teacup and asked:
“That incident at the Red Sand Well back then—did it really leave no mark on you?”