Before Lu Yaoyao could finish her sentence, Wen Zixing hurriedly stopped her.
Lu Yaoyao: “???”
“Yaoyao, we know you trust us and that we’d never tell your secrets to anyone. However, the fewer people who know a secret, the better. There’s no such thing as an impenetrable wall in this world. Once more people know, it’s no longer a secret.” Wen Zixing spoke seriously. If this was something important enough for His Venerable to personally instruct Yaoyao to keep it a secret, it must be a significant matter. It’s better if they didn’t know. “There are plenty of methods to uncover the truth from an unwilling person. What if, one day, we’re captured by bad guys and they use soul-searching techniques? Then your secret would be revealed.”
Lu Yaoyao: “Pfft, pfft, pfft! Xingxing, quickly spit those words out and take them back! None of you will ever be captured! And even if you are, I’ll save you immediately.” Lu Yaoyao had long noticed that Xingxing had a knack for jinxing things with his words. Whenever he said something bad, it would often come true. This kind of bad omen mustn’t be allowed.
Chao Muxue chimed in, “Xingxing is right! Yaoyao, you must not casually share your secrets.”
The others nodded in agreement, and Yan Zihui added, “Since you have a solution, we’ll leave it to you to handle. We won’t ask any questions.”
Wen Zixing hinted, “Of course, if you want to tell us other secrets, we’d be happy to hear them—like, for example, what kind of stepmother your father wants to find for you, or what kind of stepmother you want?”
“…” Lu Yaoyao calmly changed the subject. “Alright then, I’ll take care of them. Is that okay?”
“Yeah. If you need help, just let us know.”
Having reached an agreement, the group turned their attention back to the iron cages in the courtyard. The demons and devils inside had been eerily quiet, lowering their presence as much as possible. Noticing the gazes directed at them, some of the more timid ones were so frightened they wished they could find something to hide behind.
As Lu Yaoyao approached with the others, she casually reached out to peel off the talismans on the iron lock. The moment she made contact, the talismans crackled and her fingers went numb.
Seeing this, Yan Zihui hurriedly stopped her. “Yaoyao, what are you doing? These talismans aren’t so easy to remove!” Yan Zihui now seriously believed he had no talent for leading a group of juniors to take on missions outside. With all the worrying, he suddenly felt years older and his temper had grown increasingly irritable. In the future, let’s leave such matters to Eldest Senior Brother! He was definitely better suited to being a lazy idler.
Lu Yaoyao retracted her hand, gave Yan Zihui a sweet, obedient smile, and then glanced down at her now-charred fingers. Against the pale, tender skin of her hand, the injuries looked particularly shocking. She marveled, “I can’t remove it.”
“Let me see, let me see.” Wen Zixing leaned in to examine the talismans. After a moment, he remarked, “Seems like these are barrier talismans Master once mentioned.” Unlike barriers made from arrays, barrier talismans had no hidden escape route and were designed so that only specific individuals could remove them.
Chao Muxue looked concerned, “Does it hurt?”
“It doesn’t, it doesn’t.” Lu Yaoyao swallowed a pill. In an instant, the injury healed, and her chubby little fingers returned to their tender state. She then turned to Wen Zixing, who was still studying the talismans. “Can you open it?”
Wen Zixing shook his head. “I haven’t learned how yet.”
Though he said so, his expression was eager, as if he was itching to try. The others also looked like they were itching to have a go themselves.
“…” Worried these naughty kids would get carried away and end up touching the talismans, Yan Zihui quickly pushed them aside, “Step aside. I’ll handle this!”
Yan Zihui performed a spell, and after a moment, the talismans on the iron cage door floated off one by one.
When Lu Yaoyao reached out to open the door again, there was no longer any resistance, and she quickly managed to open it. Right behind the door was a young rabbit demon who appeared to be about fifteen or sixteen years old. The opening of the cage door made her even more frightened, and she shrank back as far as she could, staring at Lu Yaoyao in panic.
Lu Yaoyao softened her aura to make it more approachable, speaking in a gentle, sweet voice, “Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you.”
The rabbit demon didn’t dare speak, trembling in silence. However, the young devil in front of Wen Zixing was different. He was rather handsome, with obvious features characteristic of a devil race. Despite his initial timid appearance, the moment Wen Zixing opened the door, he dashed toward the cage entrance, blatantly attempting to escape.
Wen Zixing was so startled that he stumbled backward, almost falling on his backside.
Not far away, Yan Zihui reacted quickly. With a swift flick of his sleeve, an invisible force pressed down on the devil who had just escaped the cage, causing him to tumble back inside.
“You scared me!” Wen Zixing exclaimed, patting his chest in relief.
Yan Zihui turned to Lu Yaoyao, asking for confirmation again. “Yaoyao, can you handle this?”
Lu Yaoyao hesitated for a second but then nodded firmly. “I can!”
“Then we’ll leave the rest to you.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of them!” Lu Yaoyao reassured her friends and senior brother repeatedly.
The group quickly gathered all the timid demons and the unruly devils from the cages and brought them together in one place. Still worried about leaving Lu Yaoyao alone with so many demons and devils, Yan Zihui set up a barrier before leading Wen Zixing and the others away.
Left alone in the courtyard with the group of demons and devils, Lu Yaoyao suddenly felt the weight of responsibility. Though she had shown perfect confidence in front of her friends, she had never actually carried out such a task before and wasn’t entirely sure she could safely send them away. However, since she was the one who had caused this mess, it was her duty to resolve it so her senior brother wouldn’t be burdened.
Lu Yaoyao turned to the crowd and spoke to them gently. Perhaps due to the many hardships they had faced, they were extremely wary and distant toward her, a human cultivator, and no one actually responded to her.
Lu Yaoyao felt a pang of disappointment. Still, she fully understood their caution and didn’t force the issue. She continued pondering a solution, her little brows furrowed tightly. ‘If only Brother Yuanyuan were here,’ she thought. ‘Brother Yuanyuan would definitely know how to resolve this problem!’
After pondering her options, Lu Yaoyao ultimately decided against sending this group to Abyss. Although her cultivation had improved, the passage she could open wasn’t entirely stable. If something went wrong mid-transport, she might not be able to rescue them from within the rift. The risk was simply too great.
She quickly came out with another, better plan. For now, let’s hide them in a safe place and ask her all-powerful Daddy to help send them away later. If they wanted to return to the demon or devil realms, he could send them back easily, but she could also send them to A’Mu if they had nowhere else to go. Eventually, they could all go to Abyss together—they were, after all, part of her future subjects.
‘What a perfect plan! I’m indeed a genius!’
The residence borrowed from Baitong was spacious. Lu Yaoyao chose an empty courtyard, fished around in her small pouch for a while, and took out an artifact. She used it to set up a barrier that enveloped the entire courtyard and then layered several offensive arrays over it.
“For now, you’ll stay here. Don’t even think about escaping—the outside world is dangerous. I will arrange for someone to send you away after a while. If you wish to return to the demon or devil realms, I can send you back. If you have nowhere else to go, I know a place that will take you in…” With her hands clasped behind her back and her chubby face tensed in seriousness, Lu Yaoyao gave her stern warning in her soft, childish voice. After saying everything she needed to say, she didn’t bother to see if they believed her and walked off.
She didn’t expect this group of traumatized people to trust her immediately. Only time would prove it.
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