The proprietress was still thinking of her new name when she heard the sounds of blood and flesh churning coming from the bodies of the other men in the courtyard.
Then they fell silent.
Women of varying ages tore open their bodies and emerged from them. They looked at each other for a couple of seconds, then simultaneously began to strip the clothes off the male corpses on the ground.
The proprietress looked in the direction of the sound and then realized that she herself was also naked.
Her face flushed, and she quickly pushed the little girl away, then tried to pull at the demon king's clothes. The man was wrapped in layers of clothing, and she couldn't budge them no matter how hard she tried, so she had to peel off the outermost layer and wrap it around herself.
This is a nice piece of clothing, but unfortunately it has a large tear in the abdomen.
Seeing that the demon king's corpse was gradually shriveling, the landlady quickly pulled the little girl over: "Come and drink some blood."
The proprietress frowned and brushed the demon king's hair aside, revealing the veins on the side of his neck.
The little girl approached and sniffed, then backed away in disgust, only to be grabbed by the proprietress.
The landlady scolded her: "Even if he's dead, he's still your father! How can you dislike your own father?"
The little girl burst into tears and retorted angrily, "He stinks! I don't want to eat his blood!"
"Why are you so disobedient, child..." the landlady sighed.
She leaned closer to the demon king and sniffed, muttering, "It's not that smelly..."
The little girl shook off her hand and ran behind Yang Lingyao to secretly watch her.
The proprietress stared blankly at her daughter. She still didn't quite grasp the reality of having gained a new life—and years of ingrained habits couldn't be changed immediately. She wondered if what had just happened had left a psychological scar on the little girl.
But as an adult, she can't always dwell on the past.
The proprietress turned and bowed to Ai Cao, saying, "I'll go change my clothes first and get a bowl to collect some blood... so I can make some blood jelly for Nannan later."
Ai Cao nodded. She then picked up the hen that had been circling around her, craning its neck to peck at the fox cub's tail, and asked, "Did this one escape from its cage, or is it free-range? Can I take it with me?"
She shook the hen, causing it to fling out a tuft of fox fur that it was holding in its beak.
The hen clucked angrily at her. It flapped its wings frantically in the mugwort's hand, but when the mugwort glared at it, it quieted down and turned its head to provoke the little fox.
The little fox, nestled in the mugwort's embrace, warily tucked all three tails back to its side. The mugwort's embrace was only so big; it had one tail coiled up, another coiled, and the third, having nowhere else to go, had to be held in its mouth.
Its mouth was filled with its own tail, and it could only make weak threatening sounds from its throat.
The proprietress's face darkened, and she beckoned to the little girl, calling out, "Nannan."
The little girl didn't reply; she just sulked and got angry.
The proprietress explained apologetically, "When Nannan brought this hen home, it was just a chick. I asked the neighbors, but no one had heard of anyone missing a chick. It eats whatever I feed it, so I let Nannan raise it."
"Later, it started laying eggs every day, so I told my daughter that if she touched an egg, I would give her a treat."
The landlady sighed and said, "I'm usually busy with the inn, and Nannan takes care of this chicken. I don't know how she raised it like this."
"I'll go check in a bit to see if there are any cages..."
The hen stretched its neck in the mugwort's hand.
Artemisia looked at it for two seconds, then smiled and said, "Never mind, this is fine too." She put down the hen and said, "Let's talk about what's to come later."
Ai Cao gently pressed the ruffled little fox in her arms down and said, "I would like to invite you to take charge of a group of mortal women."
The proprietress was taken aback. She looked at Ai Cao seriously for two seconds, but couldn't see any joke on her face, so she pursed her lips and said seriously, "I'll go change my clothes now."
She turned and hurried a few steps, then turned back to whisper a few words to the women sitting beside the men's corpses, and led them away.
Artemisia watched them cross the messy haystacks and piles of corpses.
Yang Lingyao managed to coax the little girl into a smile, and holding her hand, the two of them, one big and one small, happily walked over. The little girl's eyes were still a little swollen, but she had already regained her spirits.
The little girl blinked and glanced several times at the little fox in Ai Cao's arms.
Ai Cao squatted down and asked gently, "Would you like to touch it?"
The little girl looked up at Yang Lingyao. Seeing Yang Lingyao nod, she tentatively reached out. She carefully stroked the fox's fur twice, then withdrew her hand.
Ai Cao asked again, "Would you like to hug me for a while?"
The little girl hesitated for a moment, then shook her head and said, "It doesn't want me to hold it."
Yang Lingyao smiled and said, "It is a fox from Qingqiu, which can be considered a demon—moreover, now that she is a beast, it will naturally be afraid of you who has half the blood of a demon king."
The proprietress, having changed her clothes, hurriedly came out.
Beside her were several women, carrying basins, knives, and various utensils, who had also changed their clothes. Although their clothes still didn't fit properly, they were much better than rags.
After placing the basin next to the demon king, a woman rolled up her sleeves and deftly directed several other women to tie the man up.
The demon king, already unconscious, struggled a few times. He was strong, but no match for their numbers; they held him firmly and tied him up. The woman in charge of the execution put the knife into the basin and used the other rope to gag him.
Once the demon king was bound, the woman in charge of the surgery picked up the knife again and pushed the basin next to his face. The other women quickly folded the demon king up, exposing his fragile neck veins to the woman in charge of the surgery.
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