“All right, all right, good girl.” Chen Qingjue gently raised her hand and wiped away the tears at the corner of Qu Weichen’s eyes, her voice so soft it was almost dripping with honey.
“Your acting’s not bad.”
Qu Weichen: “……” She choked up so much she almost coughed on her own sobs.
“Why are you so guarded against me? I’m the easiest to talk to among the demon lords, but if you keep this up, even if you’re pretty, I’ll get mad.” The tone was cute and gentle, but the words themselves weren’t so sweet.
Qu Weichen’s tough, restrained expression vanished in an instant.
She calmly wiped her tears away.
“I never meant to betray you.
My performance was a bit exaggerated, but I was telling the truth.”
“I know, that’s why I didn’t snap your neck.” Chen Qingjue was still all smiles.
She looked at Qu Weichen’s pale, slender neck, and her fingers itched a little.
“You want to go to the Abyss?”
“I do,” Qu Weichen said.
“But I’m too weak, I might not survive.
But if I do, I could be useful to you.”
“But if you get stronger, what if you decide to kill me too?”
“It’s just an investment.
If it works out, my first target for revenge is still that third prince.
You’ve saved me so many times, why would I kill you?” Qu Weichen sighed.
“If you want me to do something, just say it.”
She was just a second-rank martial artist, basically at anyone’s mercy.
Chen Qingjue’s fingers touched the back of Qu Weichen’s hand, tapping on her clenched fist, her tone full of grievance.
“I can’t charm you, can’t put you under suggestion, now I feel so insecure.”
[Don’t worry, you’re our bound necromancer.
She can’t contract you, can’t turn you into her underling.]
“My situation is special, you’ve guessed it too.
You can’t make a contract with me.” Qu Weichen couldn’t help but pull her hand back, but those cold fingertips just poked her hand again.
“Lord!”
She suspected this lord was a succubus.
“What’s wrong~” The gentle, harmless mask switched to a sultry, coquettish one.
Qu Weichen had to use all her willpower not to leap away on instinct.
She stayed silent, but finally spoke.
“I’m just a second-rank martial artist you could kill with a slap! Even if your powers don’t work on me, I’m not much of a fighter.
You’ve been training me for so long, it’s not like you just met me.
You must trust my character.
I know promises like this don’t mean much, but—I owe you three lives.”
Qu Weichen was leaning so far she was about to fall onto the sofa, but Chen Qingjue still leaned against her shoulder.
Qu Weichen had no idea if she was even listening, but that soft hand covered her right hand, and then rather forcefully pried her fingers open and laced them together—damn it, what was this!
“Lord, have some self-respect!” Qu Weichen couldn’t take it, her ears burning uncontrollably.
This was a different kind of heat than in battle, and it made her even more uncomfortable.
“I just came of age! I’m not going to bare my soul to you! I don’t have a force like the Inquisition! I’m a woman!”
[Well said! We can’t fall for this succubus’s tricks!] Number Nine cheered from the sidelines.
“Why are you yelling so loud, you’re scaring me.” Chen Qingjue said in a sweet, aggrieved voice, then looked sad.
“Is that really how you see me? Am I that kind of person?”
Qu Weichen froze, and just as she was struggling for a reply, the lord burst out laughing.
“—That’s right, I am!”
“Sending you to the Abyss isn’t sending you to die.” Chen Qingjue leaned in even closer, her nose almost touching Qu Weichen’s cheek.
In that instant, Qu Weichen yanked her hand free and shot to her feet, staring at Chen Qingjue warily.
A dagger appeared in her hand.
Qu Weichen said quietly, “Lord, if you need my blood for a mark or to track me, just say so.”
“Your face is so red.” Chen Qingjue smiled sweetly, deliberately taking a step forward, and sure enough, Qu Weichen stepped back, stiff as a board.
“You’ve been showing me your value as an investment, haven’t you? I just see your potential.
As for gender… demons really don’t care, and you’ve already guessed I’m a succubus… So if I want your blood now, how are you going to give it to me?”
Without another word, Qu Weichen sliced her palm with the dagger.
The cold sting flashed and was gone.
She held out her injured hand to Chen Qingjue, blood seeping from her palm and dripping onto the carpet.
“Do you know how much this carpet cost? I bought it for five hundred thousand yuanlang.” Chen Qingjue took out a small porcelain bottle to collect Qu Weichen’s blood, filling it quickly.
After mentioning the price, Qu Weichen’s face looked even worse, though it was hard to tell if it was embarrassment or anger.
Chen Qingjue didn’t coddle her, just put the bottle away and handed her a healing potion.
“Drink it.
Don’t just bleed all over and leave me to clean up.”
“Sorry.” Qu Weichen pressed her lips together and apologized, head down.
“Sorry.”
For a moment, Chen Qingjue was taken aback, then she smiled.
“I’m not mad, you don’t have to be so serious.
You can tell from how I treat you that I don’t care about little things like this, I was just joking with you.”
“Dear, since you just came of age, don’t be so stiff.
Drink the potion and come over here, take a look at this Abyss map.” Chen Qingjue walked to the desk, pressed a button on the back, and a hidden compartment popped out.
She took out a piece of parchment and spread it on the desk.
“There are five open passages now.
The fourth demon lord doesn’t like to get involved, and the third prince is too useless to take a passage.
So the elf passage is under the first demon lord, the dragon island passage is the second’s, the imperial capital’s is the third’s, and the beastmen’s is the fifth’s.
I control half of the Beast Roar Mountain passage, but it’s not easy to go down there under the dragons’ noses.”
“These are my kin and subordinates’ bases.” The Beast Roar Mountain passage was clearly a recent addition, and the base Chen Qingjue mentioned was still some distance from the passage.
Why did the passage’s territory seem to be marked as belonging to another lord? Qu Weichen drank the healing potion and leaned in for a closer look, while Number Nine copied the map into the system database.
“Ancient Serpent, Merkovic?”
“Yeah, the passage is its territory, but it’s not a big deal, I’m not trying to take it.” Chen Qingjue didn’t care.
“After you get to the Abyss, find my kin first, they’ll know what to do.
Then go train over here.” Chen Qingjue pointed to the sixth demon lord’s territory.
“Just kill undead there as you like.
If a strong one shows up, run.
The third prince isn’t down there, so just be smart and don’t make too much noise.”
Qu Weichen nodded.
Ambushes—she was good at those.
Hit and run, safe and fun.
She also had the slow curse and the bad luck curse… though the bad luck one had a long cooldown, the slow curse was still useful.
She could just find lone undead, curse them, then ambush.
“Is there anything to eat in the Abyss?”
“There are lava fruits, red bramble berries, stuff like that.
You can eat them and they’ll hydrate you, but they don’t taste great.” Chen Qingjue couldn’t draw them for Qu Weichen, just said she’d know when she got there.
Once Qu Weichen was in the Abyss, Chen Qingjue would have to hurry and build up her strength again on the Floating Continent.
She was different from other demon lords—she didn’t like contracting people as necromancers, since that meant giving away some of her power.
She preferred to use suggestion to get what she wanted.
The passage was left to the dragons, and the imperial capital wouldn’t be coming after her for a while.
Still, she’d cleared out Uweino’s spies, but who knew if they’d send more.
In the end, she just didn’t have enough foundation or strength.
She hadn’t been in charge of the Inquisition for long, and it wasn’t that powerful to begin with… But it was fine, she was flexible and free.
The third prince was stuck in the capital, and once Uweino stabilized, she could move around and recruit allies again.
“Which demon lord are you?” Qu Weichen asked.
“Are the demon lords competing with each other?”
“Seventh.” Chen Qingjue answered cheerfully.
“Of course it’s a competition.
Did you think demon lords were all saints, happy to share the world? They fought all the time in the Abyss, always trying to expand their territory.
The Floating Continent is a huge cake, no way they’d let it go.”
“Shh, you’re only second-rank, better not to know too much.” Chen Qingjue stuffed the parchment into Qu Weichen’s hand, and even pinched her fingers at the end.
“Go home and get some sleep, okay?”
Qu Weichen found this lord harder and harder to read.
She’d tell her half of everything, but always left the other half unsaid! Competition, competition—if this lord was the seventh demon lord, there had to be at least six more ahead of her.
Take out the third prince, what about the others? Were they still stuck in the Abyss? Could it be that coming to the Floating Continent had restrictions for the demon lords? Qu Weichen thought of the continent’s suppression of Abyss creatures.
Maybe… the stronger demon lords were more heavily suppressed, so they had to come through the Hell Gate.
The weaker ones could come first and build up their power… The demon lords were in competition, there had to be something they were all after, or else they could just join forces and take the continent together.
Wait, was she really going to… help a demon lord?
Qu Weichen looked at the lord with a complicated expression.
She was sitting in her armchair again, her gold-trimmed white robe wrapping her up, making her look holy and untouchable.
She tilted her head, looking over with half-lidded light brown eyes, clearly a bit lazy and casual.
She just watched Qu Weichen, as if studying her face.
Qu Weichen turned her head away.
“…Don’t kill the innocent.” Qu Weichen bit her lip.
“Okay?”
“Sweetheart, I hate fighting for power.
I’m… a hedonist.” Chen Qingjue propped her chin on her hand, her pale, slender wrist peeking from her robe.
Her long lashes fluttered, and she said softly, “But I want to live, and I want to live happily.
No one can stop me.”
“All right, that’s enough for today, good girl.
You can go to bed now.
Get a good night’s sleep, it won’t be this comfy in the Abyss~” Chen Qingjue leaned back in her chair, smiling at Qu Weichen.
“Good night, sweet dreams~”
