Chapter 294: Nightfall

Wolf Daoist didn't understand what he meant. But ultimately, he wanted Li Yunxin to "back down in the face of difficulties"—or at least, not strike at him.

He hesitated before saying, "After all... there are more humans. Our numbers as demons are few, so our momentum cannot be weak. Fortunately, our Palace Master, Yang Jianzi, has profound cultivation... cough, actually, in this Banyan City, humans and demon cultivators get along quite well..."

"Fine, fine. You have your reasons." Li Yunxin looked out the window—it was already getting dark, with only a sliver of the setting sun remaining on the horizon, though it too was quickly fading.

But he was in no hurry. He sat steadily and waited for the shop waiter to smilingly clear away the vegetarian feast before him and replace it with another course before he started eating.

The Wolf Demon had things on his mind; the food tasted like ash. He took a few bites for appearance's sake and then stopped, pondering how to escape. But Li Yunxin ate and drank heartily—the Wolf Demon, watching this, felt even more certain that this must be a Human Cultivator.

Many of his movements and habits were entirely different from those of demons; that sort of thing couldn't be faked.

Li Yunxin ate and drank for a good while, enjoying himself thoroughly. He waited another hour until he was full and satisfied, finally feeling like he had some "humanity" back in him, no longer like a "savage drinking blood."

Finally, he drank a pot of Southwood Spring Wine and put down his silver chopsticks.

Looking out the window, it was completely dark.

The nights in Smallwood City, at least the first half of the night, were brightly lit. There were crowds coming and going on the main streets, and lanterns would be lit under the corridors and eaves. Even if it couldn't compare to his original era, it was considered brilliant for this age. But here in Banyan City, the streets at night were pitch black; the only light sources came from the stars and the moon.

Yet he seemed to enjoy this early autumn night—sitting by the window of the Southwood Residence, squinting his eyes to feel the cool breeze blowing in.

He was enjoying it, but Wolf Daoist seemed increasingly restless.

The Wolf Demon looked out the window from time to time, appearing uneasy about the fact that "the sky has turned completely black." He wanted to urge Li Yunxin to leave quickly but didn't dare say it. After some agitation, he began to say meaningless things—such as how the night scenery at Levelplain Temple was beautiful, and how it was even more beautiful at nightfall, so why not go back early to enjoy it.

But the shopkeeper and waiter of the Southwood Residence, likely because they were acquaintances of Li Yunxin, cleared away the leftovers and served several plates of fruit. They said that because he had eaten meat today, which was contrary to the teachings of the Sword Palace Master, it was best to eat some dried and fresh fruits to cleanse the stomach and remove "turbid energy."

Li Yunxin picked at the fruit for a while longer. Another half hour passed before he finally deigned to stand up. He first cupped his hands to the shopkeeper and waiter to say a few polite words, then lightly shook his folding fan and walked out the door.

The impatient Wolf Demon let out a long sigh of relief, preparing to lead Li Yunxin back to Levelplain Temple.

The two walked through the narrow streets of Banyan City in the night for a while. Li Yunxin noticed that every household's doors and windows were tightly shut; no lights could be seen, and no voices could be heard. Then they reached the street corner where they had seen the wailing woman earlier. Li Yunxin stopped, thought for a moment, and turned toward that street.

Wolf Daoist became anxious behind him again: "Great King, where are you going?"

Li Yunxin turned his head and looked at him in the darkness: "I saw that woman crying this afternoon—why did you say she was crying?"

Wolf Daoist hesitated: "Uh... probably because her door was broken."

"I thought so too, but then I felt there might be another reason," Li Yunxin said. "I'm the type who can't sleep if I have something on my mind; I have to see it clearly to be at peace—do you want to come with me?"

He spoke and kept walking. Wolf Daoist naturally followed, but his tone slowly changed: "Great King, Great King, why don't we go back to the temple quickly? I'll tell you more about the Sword Palace in detail."

"I also have a treasure in the temple, a relic left by an Immortal over a thousand years ago. Doesn't the Great King want to see it?"

"Great King, you are just passing through Banyan City. Why bother with those people?"

He kept talking, but Li Yunxin ignored him entirely. Before long, the two saw the old tree at the street corner—its dense canopy stretched into the night sky as if some terrible secret were hidden beneath its shade. And at this time, they finally heard some sounds.

The sounds came from a distance, like quarreling and crying. But in the afternoon, the noise was a solo performance by the woman—now, the shouting and crying belonged to a group. Li Yunxin stopped under the tree as he had in the afternoon and turned to Wolf Daoist: "Oh, you're a wolf. Logically, a wolf's hearing is better than a human's. Is it even better now that you've taken human form?"

But the Wolf Demon was in no mood to discuss such things; he merely gave a perfunctory answer and tried to persuade Li Yunxin to go back.

Then he heard Li Yunxin say: "So the reason you kept trying to pull me away is that you heard the commotion here early and didn't want me to come here and cause trouble?"

Wolf Daoist froze. Just as he was about to speak, Li Yunxin looked ahead—

He saw the dozen or so demons he had seen in the front courtyard of the temple that afternoon. He remembered a few of them vividly—because they had looks of resentment on their faces when they saw him and Wolf Daoist walk past, seemingly unwilling to submit to Wolf Daoist's authority.

Human appearances vary, and the wolf-headed appearances of these wolf demons actually varied as well. For example, some had longer muzzles, some had wider eye spacing, and some had narrower heads. Li Yunxin remembered three of them—one with a tuft of white fur on his forehead, one with narrow eyes, and another with a square mouth and broad nose, looking less like a wolf and more like a bear.

Now these demons were surrounded at the door of the widow who had been wailing in the afternoon. Three minor demons held torches, illuminating the front wall of the low cottage. The rest formed a semicircle around the house as if guarding against something.

The door of the house was already open. It seemed they had found a way to put the door back on in the afternoon, but it wasn't fixed firmly and had now been torn down by the demons. But the demons who tore down the door didn't enter the house—because the woman from the afternoon was sitting in front of the door wailing, shouting something repeatedly.

She was speaking the Banyan City dialect. Li Yunxin frowned slightly and listened for a moment before realizing she was shouting things like "You man-eating things, the National Master will see you die a horrible death!"

Li Yunxin froze—the situation was different from what he had imagined.

Judging by the woman's behavior in the afternoon and the layout of the houses on this street, he had thought they were guarding against demons eating humans—for example, that the demons would go out at night to find food, so every household lived in such houses, hoping to block them.

But seeing the situation now, it seemed vastly different from his deduction—these dozen demons could easily pull the woman out and eat her.

Moreover, the woman had quite a bit of confidence when crying in the face of these creatures, even having the mind to say things like "die a horrible death"—this didn't seem like the reaction of an ordinary person seeing demons.

His deduction... was wrong.