Synopsis: This novel is also known as: The sickly Dao companion cannot be abandoned.
Previewing: "She is the second demon of the redemption novel" "The Great Dao is Boundless"...
Demon Seeds' New Year's Eve Chaos
The painted boat drifted along the water.
The table was filled with the fragrance of plum blossoms, the lamps were just lit, and the tea rippled gently.
As Yan Huanyue ate her snacks, she watched the lights gradually illuminate the south bank, occasionally spotting several children carrying red carp lanterns running past, laughing and playing.
When Pei Xuanzhi got up to fetch boiling water from the small stove, her cloak was half-open, and a few strands of her hair, blown by the cold wind by the window, happened to wrap around the jade belt at his waist.
Unaware of what was happening, Pei Xuanzhi stepped aside when Yan Huanyue suddenly reached out and grabbed his jade belt.
He felt a sudden jolt in his heart, and then belatedly felt a tingling sensation in his waist.
His voice, though seemingly calm, trembled slightly, "Sister, what do you want...?"
Yan Huanyue endured the pain and tried her best to keep her expression calm.
She pressed her hand hard against his throbbing scalp, loosened his jade belt, looked up at him and said, "Nothing, my hair is tangled, please help me get it out."
Pei Xuanzhi pursed his thin lips and looked down at the black hair tangled among the pieces of white jade. Although he felt a little lost, he still slowly and methodically helped her untangle her hair.
Outside the window, the Xue family's pleasure boat drifted by. Suddenly, someone exclaimed softly, followed by Xue Jingnian's bewildered question: "What are you all so surprised about?"
Yan Huanyue was too lazy to argue with the Xue family, especially Xue Jingnian, so she simply turned her back to the window, lowered her head, and waited for them to pass by.
Pei Xuanzhi also looked up in confusion, peering into the dimly lit cabin opposite.
He happened to meet Tan Guiyi's furtive, inquisitive, and excited gaze.
He was familiar with that look.
In the past, people who realized he was a succubus would often look at him with this kind of gaze.
What Tan Guiyi was looking at today was more repulsive and disgusting than anything he had ever seen before.
A yellow talisman flew out of his sleeve and suddenly closed the lattice window.
He carefully took out his hair. Yan Huanyue rested her head on the edge of the table, looking at his cloud-patterned shoes. A cool fragrance wafted from his cloak, and she silently sniffed it.
"Senior Sister Yan."
Yan Huanyue slightly raised her head, her face flushed from having kept her head down. "What's wrong?"
As Pei Xuanzhi smoothed her hair, his fingertips seemingly casually brushed against her warm cheek again and again.
He asked in a low voice, "What if it really is Senior Brother Yu who has disappeared?"
Yan Huanyue casually said, "That's truly a joyous occasion."
Pei Xuanzhi was surprised that she had been so concerned just now, but was now so indifferent. He didn't know which side was true and which side was false.
He plucked the last strand of his long hair. "If I offend you like Senior Brother Yu did in the future, and I disappear, will you still come looking for me like you did this time...?"
Yan Huanyue untied her hairband and tidied her hair again, saying in a very ordinary manner, "No, not only that, if you were still alive, I would find a way to punish you."
Pei Xuanzhi smiled and poured her a cup of hot water, agreeing, "That's how it should be."
.
The sound of a cup shattering suddenly ripped apart the sound of the pipa.
The zither player paused her strumming, admiring her glossy fingernails as she listened intently to the interesting stories the four men were telling her.
Xue Jingnian's face turned pale, and he trembled all over. "Brother, what are you talking about? ...I killed that disgusting dog Pei Xuanzhi!"
He was about to rush out when Xue Yuannian grabbed him, pressed him back into a chair, and slapped him on the back of the head.
"They have a good relationship, and they can do whatever they want. What's it to you? You're really meddling."
Xue Liannian frowned in dissatisfaction and said, "Brother, why did you slap him on the back of the neck? You should have slapped him twice in the face to wake him up."
Tan Guiyi secretly looked Xue Jingnian and Xue Yuannian up and down. Xue Yuannian seemed unrestrained and cheerful, but in reality, he was the most shrewd.
Xue Jingnian...
Ha, Xu Fengqiu's youngest disciple, Xue family's most favored youngest son, just a fool raised by a bunch of cunning old foxes.
Some people are really strange. They know best how much darkness and distortion there is in this world, yet they are extremely keen to show only the simplest and purest side of the world to their beloved children, calling it "protection".
But in this world, who can truly protect someone for a lifetime?
Protecting a heart by nurturing it weakens its ability to sense danger and protect itself, making it afraid to face challenges. In the future, when the barrier is removed, even a little rain or hardship can be fatal.
Tan Guiyi may look down on people like Xue Jingnian, but that doesn't mean such people are unusable.
My father once said that all things in the world have no owner; those who can obtain them are free and honored. The means are not important; achieving the goal is what matters. On the road to becoming strong, one is destined to climb stairs.
Plunder is the essence of the world.
For example, the ten years of her life that were taken from her...
Thinking of this, waves of chest pain surged up, causing her to turn to the side and gag twice.
Xue Jingnian held back his tears, "Even Fellow Daoist Tan finds him disgusting!"
Xue Yuannian slapped him and yelled, "Shut up!"
He handed a plain handkerchief to Tan Guiyi and asked softly, "Is your chest uncomfortable?"
.
On the evening of New Year's Eve, Madam Sun Mingchun of the Lu family woke up. Her two daughters came to help her with her makeup, saying that the family banquet was about to begin.
Sun Mingchun was originally overjoyed. He changed into a brand new set of clothes and sat in front of the mirror, examining his slightly ashen face.
She looked at herself in the mirror and walked around the room, but she couldn't get out of the area reflected in the mirror.
Suddenly, "she" crawled to the mirror, her face filled with terror, and clung to it, screaming at the top of her lungs, "Who are you! Who are you!"
Sun Mingchun stared blankly as she poked the mirror, and the person in the mirror struggled to crawl out along her fingertips.
She watched curiously as the disheveled person crawled and crawled, eventually burrowing into her fingernails and into her flesh.
She stared at her fingers for a while, then looked up and continued looking in the mirror.
The reflection in the mirror walked and walked, and when it reached the edge of the mirror, it suddenly transformed into a woman with her face covered by a white veil.
Sun Mingchun's eyes suddenly lit up, and he murmured, "Am I you?"
The woman's bright and alluring eyebrows curved slightly as she reached out and gently touched the mirror.
Sun Mingchun immediately tried to crawl into the mirror, but she couldn't get in. In a fit of anger, she slammed her head into the mirror, and the shattered glass cut her head, leaving it covered in blood.
Lu E and Lu Yan hurriedly went to pull her up.
She possessed a brute strength; suddenly, she flung her two daughters aside, plunged her head into the broken picture frame, and slammed her head against the wall behind the mirror, losing consciousness completely.
For a moment, Lu Yan and Lu E couldn't help but cry out "Mother!"
Just then, the Lu family father and son escorted Pei Xuanzhi, who had come to visit, into the room. He did not wish to enter the women's inner room and simply stood in the main hall.
Looking up at the bundle of peach wood hanging from the high roof beam, he said calmly, "Let's call a doctor."
He turned and left.
When he returned to Yunshui Courtyard, the main house was protected by a barrier, but he did not force his way in and went straight into the kitchen.
When night fell, Yan Huanyue absorbed a spirit stone and opened the barrier. He then carried the food box into the main room and set out the prepared food.
Yan Huanyue opened the window and saw the little golden raccoon lantern under the courtyard, its gentle light shining beside the snow-covered bamboo forest.
She stepped out of the inner room and saw a table laden with delicious food. She quickly said, "I'll do the dishes tonight."
Pei Xuanzhi, serving soup, said with a smile, "Today is New Year's Eve, and also your birthday. You don't need to get involved in these things."
Yan Huanyue felt somewhat embarrassed because he had been taking care of her all along. It seemed that he always felt that since he had used her heart contract, he should make it up to her whenever he had the chance.
But in reality, the sect leader had first done her a favor...
"Are we still going to the Lu family's banquet?"
Pei Xuanzhi said casually, "Madam Sun has fallen ill again, so we won't disturb her for now."
Yan Huanyue nodded and said, "Alright."
After finishing his meal, taking a bath, and washing up, Pei Xuanzhi nestled in a brocade quilt on a small couch and read a book.
Inside the curtained room, Yan Huanyue sat cross-legged on the bed, circulating her spiritual energy.
Now, her spiritual sea and veins are gradually expanding, and the death energy rarely disturbs her anymore.
However, her scorched bones still frequently appear in her dreams, sitting on the celestial cauldron, tilting their heads and gazing at her from afar.
Yan Huanyue often stares at Jiao Gu for an entire night, and she can face her past self with equanimity.
But she had a vague feeling that the reason she separated the charred bones was because after they merged, she might not be able to control her hatred and resentment.
Her soul was a decaying world, and many things could not be brought to light for the time being, so they could only be sealed in the deepest part.
As midnight approached, she slowly opened her eyes and withdrew her magic spell.
She lifted the bed curtains and got out of bed to check if Pei Xuanzhi was asleep, only to find him quietly sleeping, half-hugging a book.
She gently helped him put away his books and tucked his hands, which had been exposed outside, into the quilt.
Just as I was about to turn around and rest, I suddenly heard a faint sound of someone stepping on the tiles above my head.
She conjured a protective barrier around Pei Xuanzhi on the small couch, walked to the main room, and leaped out through the half-open window.
Before his feet even touched the ground, he flipped and flew onto the roof, half-lying behind the ridge carved with a row of ridge beasts.
On New Year's Eve, most families do not turn off their lights, so the night is very bright.
Through the snowflakes, Yan Huanyue watched the disheveled man running eastward not far away, sniffing the strange scent lingering in the air.
Like blood, surging and tumultuous blood.
It's the aura of a demon.
The demons create a kind of seed that floats across chasms, burrows under people's skin, and grows by sucking blood and flesh.
In the early stages, it is very difficult to detect the existence of the demonic seed. Only when a person has completely become a demonic vessel and is driven by the will of the demonic seed to spread the demonic seed everywhere, will that kind of madness and strangeness attract attention.
Each year, various sects, the Sky Patrol Bureau, and local families distribute medicines to protect the lives of their lords and suppress and kill the demon seeds. The array at the natural barrier has now basically blocked the spread of the demon seeds.
However, some of the demonic seeds that drifted in before had been lurking for too long, and every year there were undiscovered demonic sacs spreading demonic seeds.
The Heavenly Patrol Bureau had issued a death order to thoroughly purge a number of powerful families, and those who are causing trouble in Chang'an on New Year's Eve are probably those who escaped the net several times.
Yan Huanyue took out her compass and pointed it directly at the man without hesitation.
Her eyes instantly turned icy cold as she flew across the rooftops on her sword, calling out from afar, "Those who rush forward without stopping will be treated as demons!"
Seeing that the demonic sac ahead still showed no sign of stopping, a small, blood-red sphere with four faces emerged from the back of its head, glanced at her hastily, and then instantly disappeared back inside.
It was clear that the person intended to run into other neighborhoods.
Taking advantage of the moment when he leaped from the eaves of a house and landed in an alley, Yan Huanyue immediately summoned her horizontal sword and soared into the air. She took a few steps through the wind and snow, gathered all her spiritual power, and swung the sword.
The blade pierced straight through the man's head, freezing him in place.
Tiny sprays of blood gushed from the top of his head twice, completely blocked by the flesh and blood.
She didn't know whether directly killing this person and causing a lot of bleeding or damage would cause the demon seed to escape. In the current situation, the demon seed probably doesn't have much awareness yet.
She had just landed with her sword, intending to see what was going on, when someone behind her exclaimed, "What a sharp sword strike! Fellow Daoist, we meet again."
Judging from the voice, she knew it was the fellow Daoist who had invited her to drink a cup of thick wine that night, whom she had met by chance.
Yan Huanyue turned around and looked up at the roof ridge, asking, "Why did this kind of demonic sac appear in Chang'an? How do you usually deal with it?"
The person landed lightly amidst a gust of wind and snow, and walked to the person who had been pierced by the sword energy but had no blood dissipation.
She tiptoed and raised her hand, a wisp of candlelight emanating from her fingertips. She looked at the neat, smooth knife wound on her head and smiled sincerely, "What a beautiful cut."
Just as Yan Huanyue was about to urge her to answer, the person took out an incense stick, lit it, and handed it to her.
"After burning for a while, the demons will be so intoxicated by the demon bone incense that they will lose their vigilance. Place the box coated with demon bone powder on the ground, and they will crawl inside on their own. Then you can take it to the Xue family to exchange for spirit stones."
He then took a box from his treasure pouch and handed it to her, saying, "Fifty taels."
Yan Huanyue felt a pang of regret and said, "Fine, take your things and leave. I'll pay you back for the drinks."
The man laughed heartily and said, "There are still many pitiful people in the southwest who have become demonic slaves. They launch attacks tonight on New Year's Eve. Fellow Daoist, your methods are so clean and efficient, why don't you come and help?"
Yan Huanyue said, "It is only natural to help with this kind of thing, but I will just borrow your box and incense. I will give you the spirit stones in return later."
The man laughed and said, "One demon seed can be exchanged for one low-grade spirit stone, five demon seeds for one mid-grade spirit stone, and ten demon seeds for one high-grade spirit stone. Are you really so otherworldly?"
Yan Huanyue immediately took out a fifty-tael silver note and gave it to her, sighing softly, "The Xue family is truly generous."
The man said matter-of-factly, "Those who need to do real and important things cannot be too stingy. Improving one's cultivation requires the help of spirit stones, not to mention that some people have families to support."
"In the end, things in this world still require everyone to work together. It's not something that can be solved just by one person shouting a few seemingly nice words about killing the heavens and destroying life."
The man paused, then said, "I am Huo Chengying of the Fifth Division of the Xue Clan's Tianxuan Sect. I will head southwest first. Once you have finished preparing, please come and help me immediately."
As she spoke, she seemed not to be too worried that Yan Huanyue would shake her. Her black dress billowed in the wind, and she leaped into the air, sliding towards the southwest like a falling leaf.
Yan Huanyue opened the box of demon bone powder and placed it on the ground.
Before long, one after another, bloody fleshy spheres crawled out from various parts of the person who had been immobilized, stretching out two bloody little hands, and crawled into the box.
Yan Huanyue inadvertently noticed a corner of red paper peeking out from the arms of the person who had been completely corrupted into a demonic sac.
She gently pulled it out and saw a bright red, brand-new Spring Festival couplet with two small red velvet flowers.
"Joyfully welcoming the New Year, may peace and happiness fill your home."
Yan Huanyue gently folded the Spring Festival couplets that hadn't been pasted up on New Year's Eve morning and slowly placed them in his arms.
He said softly, "After today's business is over, I will take you back to the Xue residence and wait for your family to come and pick you up."
After saying this, he made a hand seal and bowed, leaving behind a spell to ward off wind and snow. Then he picked up the Demon Bone Box and flew southwest on his sword.
Just as they reached the skies above the southwestern wards, they heard a series of sounds, like the jingling of copper coins.
In the alleyways where several members of the Xue clan were scattered, Lu Shenchu chased after the woman who had been corrupted into a demonic sac, wiping the layers of sweat from his face as he called out urgently:
"Little fairy, don't all rush here, I can't handle it all! Sister... sister, don't run away, I'll take you home for the New Year! Don't run away, let's smell the magic incense, oh my god, my legs are about to break, how come you're not tired yet..."
Yan Huanyue then realized why Huo Chengying hadn't worried about her shaking her earlier; it turned out that someone had been waiting there all along.
She had just landed on a rooftop when a wisp of white smoke swirling in the snow drove a person rushing toward her.
The man bared his teeth and glared angrily, losing an eyeball in the process.
Inside his eye socket, a tiny, blood-red fleshy ball was clinging to his eyelid, staring at her maliciously through the empty eye socket.
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Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2023-11-28 23:54:17 and 2023-11-30 00:16:02!
Thank you to the little angel who threw the landmine: Xiaomanyi (1 landmine);
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Qianqian 204 bottles; Jiang Chao 92 bottles; Mr. L is so handsome 65 bottles; Wanwanshanshan 50 bottles; Zhuyantaoan 40 bottles; Mengxin 22 bottles; Did the author add roots today? 12 bottles; Su Dongpo Kou Rou, Zui Long Wo, Y., Xiao Tongqian 10 bottles; Mengbi who wants to be a top student 8 bottles; Mengzhong Wakeng 5 bottles; shineyale, Wumimimimi, Huidudu, Hezhi 2 bottles; Zhizhi Fuzhizhi, Luo, Duoduoduoduo, Huaxuyin, AAA Special Grade Chef, Xin, kurosakiiji, Balabala, Jusan, Cute Cheese, Late-stage Procrastinator, 67176494, Let me eat sweet cookies! 1 bottle;
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!