After leaving the courtyard, Lu Yaoyao didn’t immediately go for Wen Zixing and the others. She instead quietly slipped out of the residence. Her small figure darted through the streets and alleys at a speed invisible to the naked eye, bypassing grand mansions as she suppressed her aura completely. Even the patrolling city guards didn’t notice her presence when she leaped over them.
Before long, Lu Yaoyao reached a dark grove near the outskirts. The bright moon already hung high in the sky, and its silver light cast mottled shadows of the trees onto the ground, creating a surreal and eerie atmosphere. Nocturnal creatures let out strange cries deep in the woods, adding to the eerie mood.
Standing under the moonlight that filtered through the tree branches, half of Lu Yaoyao’s face was hidden in shadow, while the other half was bathed in the cool, faint glow of moonlight. She wasn’t afraid of the unsettling environment, her large eyes fixed intently on the pitch-black depths of the grove.
“Come out. I know you’re here,” she called out, her words deliberate and measured.
The place remained eerily silent. A night breeze rustled the leaves, causing them to sway gently. Lu Yaoyao continued to stare ahead, motionless. After a moment, a figure even darker than the blackness of the grove silently emerged, stopping at the boundary between moonlight and shadow.
“What a coincidence, Your Highness.” The voice was young but hoarse and grating, like a dull blade scraping against stone.
“It’s indeed quite a coincidence. How did you get captured again?” Lu Yaoyao tilted her head. “Right? Nani Gu?”
The shadow, Nani Gu: “…”
Lu Yaoyao waved him over. “Do you need help? You look seriously injured.”
Nani Gu hesitated for a moment before slowly approaching Lu Yaoyao. The moonlight bathed over his figure, gradually revealing his crimson eyes. He was a high-level devil with the appearance of a young man, exuding a murderous aura so intense it felt like he could snap someone’s neck at any moment, but Lu Yaoyao was completely unfazed. She pulled a fruit out of the corner of her small pouch and handed it to him. “I can’t use devil aura to heal you, but this spiritual fruit should work just as well.”
The healing methods used by the devil race were notoriously crude. Minor injuries were left to heal naturally, while severe wounds required absorbing devil aura by either devouring their fellow devil or retreating to a place rich in aura to slowly recover. Humans, on the other hand, had an array of pills to aid in their recovery.
Lu Yaoyao’s current state allowed her to absorb devil aura but not release it. Therefore, she couldn’t use it to help with healing. The devil pills she had acquired at the auction were meant for research. So, the only option was the spiritual fruit, which worked for all races.
Nani Gu was visibly surprised at the sight of the spiritual fruit. Without refusing, he swiftly took and ate it. The entire fruit was swallowed in one go, and soon, an abundant aura surged through his body, repairing his injured limbs and bones. As his complexion rapidly improved, the hostility in his aura also eased.
Seeing his condition improve, Lu Yaoyao curiously asked, “Nani Gu, didn’t you return to your home? How did you end up getting caught and sold to the underground auction in the Cultivation Realm?”
When the ‘special lot’ appeared on the auction stage, Lu Yaoyao couldn’t have been more shocked to find it was a familiar face, Nani Gu. The first time she had met him, he had also been sold as a slave in the Devil Realm market. Now, things were even worse—he had been captured and brought to the Cultivation Realm to be auctioned off as a commodity.
Back when she rescued him in the Devil Realm, Nani Gu had forcefully expressed his desire to be her subordinate. However, since it was inconvenient to keep him by her side, she had temporarily entrusted him to Yaqing. Before she left the Devil Realm, Nani Gu had told her of his plan of returning to his clan and seizing power, promising to bring the entire Nani clan under her service once he succeeded.
Lu Yaoyao hadn’t checked in on him since so she had no idea what happened afterward. Who would have thought their next meeting would occur under such circumstances? This guy was actually being sold again!
“Did you lose the power struggle within your clan?” Lu Yaoyao wondered. ‘Poor Nani Gu. He had been sold once and now again. What an amazing Nani clan!’
Nani Gu’s expression shifted repeatedly before he gritted his teeth and spat, “My father’s twentieth wife was as cunning and treacherous as a human. I nearly fell into her trap.”
When Nani Gu returned home, he was full of ambition to seize the position of head of the clan. However, he was still young, and his cultivation was not among the strongest in the clan. Thus, he decided to bide his time and prepare to proceed step by step.
Unfortunately, his father’s twentieth concubine was more scheming than any of the previous ones. Not only did she manage to charm his father into officially marrying her and elevating her status from a mere concubine to the clan leader’s wife, but she also manipulated his brothers into killing one another, leaving almost none alive.
Upon Nani Gu’s return, the new lady of the Nani clan immediately saw him as a thorn in her side. No matter how low-profile he tried to remain, he couldn’t escape her schemes. But Nani Gu wasn’t the type to sit around and wait for death. Naturally, he began to fight back, but as the outcome showed, he was outmaneuvered. His plans fell apart, and he ended up being sold at the auction house. If they hadn’t wanted to squeeze every last bit of value out of him before discarding him, he probably wouldn’t have survived.
After hearing his story, Lu Yaoyao felt even more sympathetic. “Don’t worry, Nani Gu. If you get sold again, I’ll buy you back. As long as I’m here, nothing will happen to you.”
“…” Nani Gu wasn’t even sure how to respond to that. Still, in retrospect, both of his escapes had indeed been thanks to Lu Yaoyao, because it was the chaos caused by her thundercrashes that had allowed him to escape the auction house.
Severely injured, it was nearly impossible for him to flee from such a heavily fortified place on his own, but his pride did not allow him to remain bound by a slave contract and become someone else’s property. Thus, he seized a last-minute opportunity to escape his cage.
Even after breaking out, he had remained trapped within the auction house, and it was only a matter of time before he was captured again. Unexpectedly, the auction house was bombed not long after, and he found an opportunity to escape.
The culprit behind the explosion had used thundercrashes, a weapon unique to the devil race. Such a bold move could only be done by someone with an extremely high status, because not even his father could afford to casually throw around so many thundercrashes.
Curious to see which demon had helped him, Nani Gu searched the scene, only to find the little princess. ‘Well, that explains it,’ he thought. The thundercrashes were controlled by His Venerable, so there was nothing strange for the little princess to use them like mere toys.
Of course, only a devil like her could be so kind-hearted as to help others.
“You have saved my life again, Your Highness. From now on, this life of mine belongs to you. Once I take control of the Nani clan, we will all serve you.” Nani Gu declared.
Lu Yaoyao responded with a solemn tone, “A’Gu, I believe you have great potential and will achieve greatness in the future. However, as the saying goes, ‘As long as the green hills remain, there will be no shortage of firewood.’ Before you are fully prepared, you should lie low and wait for the right moment… Do you understand what I mean?”
In her heart, Lu Yaoyao thought, ‘Nani Gu is still too young. Although he is very talented and his cultivation far surpasses his peers, he is still too inexperienced when dealing with the old devils who have lived for centuries. He also doesn’t seem adept at schemes and strategies—no wonder he keeps falling into traps!’
To prevent him from being sold a third time, Lu Yaoyao felt it necessary to give him some advice. The devil race, by nature, lacked familial bonds and revered the strong. Harboring ambitions of seizing power without absolute strength was only inviting trouble. No clan leader would tolerate someone constantly eyeing their throne—even if it was their own son.
Honestly, Lu Yaoyao was quite surprised Nani Gu was still alive. He had been incredibly lucky so far. But if this continued, it was only a matter of time before his luck ran out. He would be better off focusing on improving his strength. Once his cultivation surpassed his father’s, taking over as clan leader would be a matter of course.
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Translator’s Note:
Monday’s late chapter >_<
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