Weeks had gone by and Wei Xing realized that Xiu Xiang was still mad at him. He was absolutely clueless on how to appease her. Every time he'd gone to see her, she was never in her courtyard. In fact, every time he went in search of her, he'd always miss her by a second. It was either—
"The lady has gone with the Night Guards to investigate an activity at the borders of the Demon Realm."
Or—
"You just missed her. She went to the Human Realm with Hua Jian to investigate a demon killing."
There was even—
"The lady left with Hua Jian earlier today. They should...!" Be back soon...
Those last words were stuck in the servant's throat when he saw Wei Xing's blood thirsty eyes glared down at him.
"Alright! Get lost!" Wei Xing roared. With a swish of his sleeve, the guard was quickly thrown out of the room.
Was Xiu Xiang avoiding him?
He sighed heavily. He knew he shouldn't have been lenient with Bai Qing. He should have thrown Bai Qing back to the Human Realm even if she had no place to go. With her talent, she would be highly sought out by other sects even if her sect didn't want her back.
Xiu Xiang and he had just taken a step forward and had instantly gone ten steps back. He thought with Xiu Xiang now living in the Night Palace, the two of them would have more time together. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case at all!
Another heavy sigh escaped his lips. He could only bury his face into his palm in silence. However, the silence didn't last long. A servant suddenly came knocking.
"My lord, please help! My lady, she...!" the young female servant dropped to her knees, her head pounding on the ground over and over. As soon as he heard the young female servant's plead for help, he instantly took off, fearing for the worst.
"Xiu Xiang...!" he thought fearfully. Did something happen to her when she returned from the Huma Realm?!
Somewhere outside of the Night Palace, Xiu Xiang and the Night Guards had just returned from the Human Realm. Weeks ago, Xiu Xiang had slowly started to take up her original lord duties again after hearing that Wei Xing hardly put any effort into it, leaving most of it to Hua Jian. She had received a report from of a strange occurrence near the border of the Demon Realm and Human Realm. It was strange because the aura left behind was clearly that of an extremely high leveled demon only the aura was sensed only on the Human Realm side and not on the Demon Realm. It was almost like, a demon was trying to break through the barrier between the two realms. This extremely strange as all demons knew all the secret portal gate locations to enter the Demon Realm. So, there was no need to expend energy to destroy a barrier in order to get through.
Then there was the issue with the death of several demons in a nearby town where the demonic aura had been left. The deaths were extremely bizarre. The energy within the dead demons had been sucked dry.
Xiu Xiang and Hua Jian then traveled to other nearby towns to see if there were any similar occurrences. They found a few more towns were hidden demons had been sucked dry of their energy. After investigating those towns, they found no more similar deaths. With no other clues, the two finally decided to head back.
"Something tells me that the demonic aura left behind at the border and the deaths of the demons are connected..." Xiu Xiang muttered to herself. Nothing like this had ever happened in the novel so she was completely clueless as to what was causing this.
"Shall I send out a notice for the elders to gather to announce the deaths of those demons?" Hua Jian asked.
"No. There's no reason to cause panic. If I remember correctly, in the treasure room, there are objects that can be used to hide one's demonic aura. Give them to the Night Guards and have each of them stationed in the towns that had been attacked. The moment something happens, have them report back immediately," Xiu Xiang said.
Normally, Hua Jian would give out a few complaints or whine about the task being too tedious. Today, Hua Jian simply gave a slight bow and took off in the direction of the treasure room. Maybe it was because Xiu Xiang had torched Hua Jian's head, or maybe it was the fact that someone responsible had finally taken up the lord duties again, but Hua Jian had become more obedient than in the past.
Xiu Xiang couldn't help but chuckle.
Guess it wasn't only Wei Xing who had changed in these years.
Thinking of Wei Xing, she wondered if he was mad. Due to jealousy, she had tossed him out of her courtyard after realizing that Wei Xing was pleading on Bai Qing's behalf to help her stay. The two haven't reconciled after that as Xiu Xiang was constantly on the move after taking up her lord duties again. If she really thought about it, it's been almost a month since the two of them had last seen each other.
She decided that this time, she was in the wrong. It was true that Bai Qing had contributed a lot to the Demon Clan. Without her, maybe there wouldn't even be much of the Demon Clan left. Putting down her pride, she went off in search of Wei Xing to apologize.
Xiu Xiang walked up and down the maze-like corridors toward Wei Xing's courtyard only to see a nervous young female servant standing guard in front of his room. As soon as the servant saw her, the young servant's face already pale face turned deathly white.
"M-my lady...! When did you return?" the young servant asked nervously. Her hands clamped together tightly in front of her.
Xiu Xiang couldn't help but notice how fidgety the servant was. The servant was constantly shifting her eyes toward the door almost like she knew something was going in inside the room. Suspicion settled when she saw the servant's strange behavior. Her eyes also landed on the door that led to Wei Xing's room. There was the sound of clothes rustling inside and then a female voice sounded.
"Wei Xing... I feel so hot..." the voice was highly seductive. Its allure would entice any man.
"Don't worry. I promise I'll make it all better," the second voice replied. It was low and hoarse as if the person was struggling to speak.
"Wei Xing?!" Xiu Xiang thought.
Something was definitely wrong!
Without so much as looking at the servant, her feet moved forward.
"Wait!" the servant jumped in front of Xiu Xiang with her arms spread outwards. She blocked her from entering the room. "Please don't go in! My lady is poisoned! If the lord doesn't help her, she'll die!"
"Your lady?" Xiu Xiang's brows knitted tightly together. She had been announced as the lady of the palace and if the servant daringly said that 'her lady' was inside the room, that 'lady' could only be Bai Qing. If Wei Xing dared to embrace Bai Qing, she'll break off all ties with him forever.
"Get out of my way," Xiu Xiang said calmly.
"No! I won't!" the servant said defiantly. No demon would dare cross her path as they all knew that she was the true Demon Lord, yet this little servant had stepped in front of her. Most likely the little demon before her had entered the palace after Xiu Xiang had died.
Xiu Xiang eyed her up and down, then a smile spread across her face.
"What is your name?" she asked.
"Xiao Gui..." the servant replied weakly.
"Xiao Gui, did you know that before I was even given the title lady of the palace, I was the true Demon Lord? Do you know what happens to those who oppose me? I torch them until not even their soul is left."
"Wh-what...?" Xiao Gui stiffened. As a weak little demon who just recently entered the palace, she has never seen the late Demon Lord before, but she had heard many things. She was extremely beautiful and vicious. If anyone angered her, that demon was sure to become a blackened torched corpse, but the woman in front of her wasn't even as beautiful as her lady Bai Qing. How could she possibly be the late Demon Lord?
No matter what, she was told to prevent anyone from entering the room until the deed was done. Only then would she be given a position within the harem. No longer would she have to serve everyone at her feet. Already seeing the bright future ahead of her, Xiao Gui strengthened her resolve to prevent Xiu Xiang from entering the room.
"I've given you a chance yet you didn't treasure it. You can only blame your lady for your demise." The smile was gone from Xiu Xiang's face. With a snap of her fingers, fire erupted from underneath Xiao Gui.
"Demon f-fire?!"
Intense pain spread up her legs causing Xiao Gui to tumble to the ground. She writhed in pain as the fire quickly engulfed her entire body. Xiao Gui felt as if the fire was burning right through to her soul. If Xiao Gui didn't believe Xiu Xiang, she definitely believed her now. Only the late Demon Lord was able to produce such vicious fire.
"Please, don't kill me! I'm sorry! I didn't know! My lord please spare me!" When Xiu Xiang turned a deaf, Xiao Gui could only call out to Bai Qing. "My lady! Save me!"
Xiu Xiang didn't spare her a second glance and immediately pushed the doors opened. She stepped inside and walked toward the bedroom. Lying in bed was a half naked Bai Qing. She had her arms wrapped around Wei Xing's neck. As for Wei Xing, he was straddling her with both hands on either side of her. He seemed to be frozen in place. Bai Qing whispered something softly in his ears, then Wei Xing slowly lowered himself down.
She wanted to lift up her hand to interfere, but her hands seemed to feel like a thousand pounds. For a second, she thought she heard the sound of her heart slowly being ripped in half.
Wei Xing was leaning in closer and closer towards Bai Qing and in that moment, Xiu Xiang didn't have the strength to do anything. She turned her back before she could see anything else. However, just as she decided to leave, she heard Wei Xing's voice.
"Y...you're not Xiu Xiang...!" His voice trembled as if he was struggling to keep sane.
Xiu Xiang quickly spun around to see that Wei Xing was indeed trying to keep sane. He was frozen above Bai Qing, his eyes changing rapidly from light to dark. Just seeing the strange glow in the two adulterers' eyes was enough clues for Xiu Xiang to know what was going on. The two of them was deep inside an illusion. It was then that she finally remembered that Bai Qing was a master illusionist.
In the novel, even Wei Xing couldn't break out of an illusion until Bai Qing saved him. It was what sealed their relationship. Realizing that Bai Qing was trying to steal her man by underhanded means, she instantly flared up with anger. The only way to break an illusion was to chant a dissolving spell or simply take out the person who had cast the illusion.
With a snap of her fingers, a burst of flames erupted on the arms that wrapped around Wei Xing's neck. The illusion shattered almost immediately. Bai Qing pushed Wei Xing off her then rolled off the bed, screaming out in pain. For Bai Qing who was the heroine of the story, she has never suffered such agonizing pain. This was because someone else was always taking the fall for her.
She rolled back and forth on the ground, trying to put out the fire but it continued to burn. Her screams went up a notch, waking Wei Xing up from his daze. He sat up in bed, his hand clutching his aching head. "What's going on...?"
As if his memories returned, his eyes enlarged. He remembered a servant coming to him, saying that Xiu Xiang was in trouble. He had raced to her room only to find that Xiu Xiang was nowhere to be found. That was when he was struck with a strange sweet scent. The last thing he saw was Bai Qing who slowly morphed into Xiu Xiang.
He had fallen into Bai Qing's trap! Did he sleep with her?! His head whipped back and forth until it landed on the ground where Bai Qing was covered in flames that slowly burned.
"My lord! Save me!" Bai Qing cried pitifully.
Wei Xing's brows furrowed. His eyes had gone completely dark as he glared at her.
"You!" he said sharply. Before he could release his anger on the burning Bai Qing, he suddenly felt another presence in the room. The moment he looked up, his heart dropped. Standing by the doorway of his bedroom was Xiu Xiang with her arms folded in front of her chest. Her red eyes staring sharply right at him.