"My head..." Xiu Xiang groaned as she clutched her aching head. She may have gone a little overboard with the drinking. It wasn't long until she felt a presence in the same room as her and sobered up quickly.
Her head tilted to the side and her eyes landed on a broad back that was facing her. One look and she knew who that back belonged to.
Wei Xing flinched from her movement, but he didn't turn around. She couldn't understand why until she looked down at herself. She was only in her thin undergarment robes and it had come loose when she had fallen asleep. If she had moved any more, her chest would've been revealed for the world to see. Her face went bright red and she quickly adjusted her clothes.
"How long have you've been there?" she asked sharply.
There was dead silence. After what seemed like an eternity, Wei Xing calmly replied, "Since you first got drunk."
"Where's Feng Yue?" Xiu Xiang asked as she eyed the room. Normally under circumstance like this, Feng Yue, who overlooked the harem, would be the one to take care of her.
Once again, there was silence. Xiu Xiang felt a dangerous aura seeping off him and wondered if he was getting angry for keeping him in her harem. It was funny seeing his horrified face when the half-naked female dancers approached him or the half-naked male servers passed him wine. Halfway through the night she had completely forgotten about making fun of him and actually enjoyed the entertainment from her harem.
Since he wasn't going to answer, Xiu Xiang figured Feng Yue had left his responsibilities onto Wei Xing. She shrugged off the situation and started to get out of bed when Wei Xing finally spoke up.
"Where do you think you're going?" Wei Xing asked.
"Back to my room to change," she replied flatly.
"Dressed like that?" His tone sounded quite harsh as if he took issue with the way she was dressed.
It was true that she was dressed in nothing but a thin layer of robes, but she didn't want to wait for her servants to bring her a new set of clothes. Besides, nobody would be able to see her because she would be too fast.
She was just about to explain this to Wei Xing when he caught her by the arm. He had moved so fast, for a moment, she was sure that Wei Xing had unsealed his spiritual core. The only reason why she doubted that was because she couldn't sense any spiritual energy seeping off of him.
"What do you think you're doing?" Xiu Xiang asked. If he didn't let her go in the next three seconds, she was going to blast him to bits.
What he did next surprised her.
He took off his outer robes and gently placed it over her shoulders. His shoulders were quite broad and it managed to cover her entirely.
"Wear this before you go out," he simply said and then turned away.
Xiu Xiang couldn't help but grin at him. He really was quite the gentleman despite his cold exterior. Her eyes fell on his bright red ears and she practically had to cover her mouth with her hand to keep a laughter from escaping.
"How cute..." she thought. A scent of herbal medicine wafted from the robes that he had given her. It reminded her of the time when they first met. He didn't know who she was, but he still helped her anyway.
Her enemy really was kind...
As she thought this, her heart sank. Somewhere in the near future, the two of them were going to fight to the death and she was the one who was going to die. She told herself not to let his actions sway her. Eventually, she is going to have to kill him.
It's either kill or be killed.
She lost her smile and didn't say anything as she left the room quietly. When she disappeared through the door, she missed the conflicted look in Wei Xing's eyes.
Hua Jian was already waiting in her study when she returned to her room.
"What is this? You actually spent the night in your harem?" Hua Jian waggled his eyebrows at her.
Xiu Xiang ignored him and disappeared into her room to change. As she changed, she could hear Hua Jian's joking tone.
"I was sure a certain someone said that the handsome human who followed us back was an enemy... yet that certain someone rushed to their harem and spent an entire night there. If that is how an enemy is treated, then I wonder how a lover would be treated."
Hua Jian laughed loudly only to come to an abrupt stop when a ball of fire magically appeared in front of his face. It nearly scorched the face that he had spent all morning to put make up on. Thankfully he managed to jump out of harms way but the tip of his hair had been scorched and the rug was quickly consumed by the fire.
"How dare you?! Do you know how precious my face is? If it's ruined, I'll never get to eat a good-looking guy ever again!" Hua Jian practically stomped his feet in place out of anger while at the same time tried to kill the fire that burned the expensive silk rug that cost an arm and a leg. He was just about to complain about Xiu Xiang's lack of consideration for all the priceless items within the room, when another ball of fire erupted again.
"AH! Are you trying to burn me along with the room?!" Hua Jian cried.
After a long dispute between the two, they finally got down to business.
"What are you going to do about that human?" Hua Jian asked. "Don't tell me, you're planning on keeping him in your harem forever? He's an elder of the Tian Ling Sect. Sooner or later, they will try to rescue him. You may be the lord of the Night Palace but there are many strong demons within the Demon Realm that are waiting for you to fall so they can take your place."
"I have a plan for him," Xiu Xiang said as she looked over some scrolls.
"And that is?"
"An exchange. Tian Ling Sect will open the way for us to the Cave of Inheritance and we'll return their elder to them," she replied.
"Do you think they'll agree so easily?"
"They will once they hear the conditions," Xiu Xiang said.
Her condition was, in order to free the Demon King's soul, she'll exchange Wei Xing's life along with the pact that the demons will never hunt within the human realm ever again. All demons will sign a pact to never hurt humans and if any of them should break the pact, they'll die a painful death.
She had researched most of the scrolls within the Demon King's study and found a spell formation that can create such pact. It was to ensure the loyalty of all demons and in that way the Demon King can easily control the demons during his reign. The only problem was, the spell can only last during the duration that the Demon King is in reign, which meant that as soon as she passes her lord status back to the Demon King, the pact will renege itself and the spell formation would have to be recast. That is if the Demon King decides to.
It wasn't a guarantee and honestly, demons don't really need to feed on human. They can sustain life without feeding on humans, but out of greed for power, it was simply easier to feed on humans than fight and level up instead.
"My lord, I understand that you simply wish to free the Demon King's soul but once he rises again, he may not agree to the conditions you lay out," Hua Jian said.
"Once the Demon King's soul returns, I'll talk to him. I'm sure he'll understand. He..." Xiu Xiang trailed off on her words.
The Demon King was technically her father. As a father, the Demon King would have to listen to her, right?
She sighed and tossed the book she had been looking at down onto the table. The study seemed to be filled with more and more documents. When it seemed like Xiu Xiang was almost finished dealing with the problems at hand, a servant came knocking on the door.
"What is it?" Hua Jian asked.
"That human that had been brought here a few days ago by the lord, hasn't eaten anything that we gave him."
"Then let him starve. He won't die so easily," Hua Jian merely said.
Xiu Xiang wondered if she should just let him be. If he starved to death, then she wouldn't have to take actions against him, but then again, he's needed alive in order for her to enter the Cave of Inheritance... plus, she had an inkling that the reason why she didn't starve to death during the time she was in North Peak was because of Wei Xing.
"Let's stop here," Xiu Xiang said suddenly.
"Shall I have someone send you a meal?" Hua Jian asked. He looked over to the candle that had almost melted down. The only way they could tell time within the darkness of the Demon Realm was through how much candle they burnt.
Half a day had already gone by Xiu Xiang finally realized how hungry she was. She got up from her chair and started for the door.
"Where are you going?" Hua Jian asked.
"To go eat ah," she replied with a grin. She opened the door and ordered the servants to bring her meal to the harem.
Upon arriving at the harem, everyone was ecstatic. Their lord had returned to the harem, two days in a row. If they were lucky, they really might gain a favor.
A lavish meal set before Xiu Xiang and as she ate, dancers performed, and musicians played music.
Wei Xing was once again sitting in a corner all by himself, keeping his eyes a certain area in the wall. Even with the scent of food filling up the entire hall, Wei Xing didn't seem perturbed at all. She watched his stone cold face felt the urge to tease him a bit. She grabbed a bowl of food and got up from her seat. Some of the men and women looked dejected as she pushed them side. She ignored them and made her way over to Wei Xing.
"You don't seem to be enjoying the show," Xiu Xiang said as she sat down next to Wei Xing.
He didn't answer her as he kept his eyes on the wall. She shrugged and grabbed a dumpling with her chopsticks. She turned to one of the dancers and said loudly, "Come dance closer for our dear Elder Wei. It seems like his eyesight isn't too good."
"You--!" Wei Xing's face flushed bright red as he turned to look at Xiu Xiang. His mouth opened slightly, ready to scold her when Xiu Xiang shoved the dumpling straight into his mouth.
Seeing the confusion on his face, she let out a laugh and nearly dropped her bowl of food as she clutched her aching stomach.
Tian Ling Sect had a strict rule about wasting food so Wei Xing had to swallow the dumpling down before he spoke.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked sharply.
"Feeding you. I was told you haven't eaten since you've been here," she said.
A complicated look flashed across his face as his eyes planted on the wall again.
"I don't need to eat," he simply said.
"Is that so?" Xiu Xiang grinned and held up her hand to gather everyone's attention. "It seems like our great Elder Wei prefers an erotic performance. Please don't hesitate to undress!"
"Xiu Xiang!" Wei Xing roared as he shot up to his feet.
Xiu Xiang laughed as she tugged him by the sleeve. "Alright, I won't tease you anymore. Just have one bowl of food."
He reluctantly looked at the bowl of food that she offered him. It seemed like he was contemplating the decision between naked people or a bowl of food. His face contorted in pain and finally took the bowl from Xiu Xiang.
She had to bite down on her bottom lip in order to not laugh. After she was sure that he was eating, she finally ordered for the performance to stop and went back to her seat to eat.