CH 11.1

Lou Muge didn’t slow down, rubbing his eyes and yawning while sitting in the carriage. His stomach was empty, and he felt a bit wilted all over.

Ning Shaosi was quiet as always. He tilted his head at Lou Muge, and suddenly took out something wrapped in an oil paper from his sleeve and handed it to him.

Lou Muge froze for a moment, reached out to pick it up and found it was surprisingly hot. He squeezed it, and sniffed an aroma that was leaping into his nose. He opened the greaseproof paper and took a look; it was a steaming grilled chicken leg.

He raised his eyes in surprise. “When did you hide this?”

“On the way out.” Ning Shaosi smiled, and took out another greaseproof paper packet from his sleeve. After opening it up, a pair of chicken wings appeared.

Lou Muge was ecstatic. He swallowed most of them down until he felt stuffed.

Honestly, if Lou Muge didn’t eat, he wouldn’t die of hunger, but he would be a bit uncomfortable. He was reluctant to fight hunger with his hard integrated strength. He planned to find Aunt Li when they disembark later and eat some steamed stuffed buns in her basket later, but surprisingly, the kid beside him had good stuff hidden in his sleeves. 

Lou Muge glanced at him, met his smiling eyes, and asked, “How old are you?”

Ning Shaosi thought for a moment and replied, “I have lived for many years.”

There was nothing wrong with this answer. Which demon hadn’t lived for many years? Lou Muge didn’t pursue it either and nodded.

They were all from the north and the south of the sky and gathered together for the Divine Trial Convention. Everyone had their own purpose. Digging deeper might not be favorable. 

Lou Muge licked the oil stains on his fingers after eating almost everything, and took out the brocade handkerchief that Ning Shaosi had previously given him from his sleeves. He wiped the oil stains on his fingers clean, and then carefully folded it up before handing it to Ning Shaosi.

“I’m returning it to you.” Lou Muge stuffed it into his hand.

A normal person would have thrown it away, but Ning Shaosi didn’t bat an eyelid and put the stained and oiled brocade handkerchief into his sleeve.

Lou Muge was oblivious to his cheek and hummed a song leisurely.

In winter, it got dark early. There was still light in the west when they set off, but when they arrived, it was already dim. The snowfall slightly lessened, and fluffs of snow floated down bit by bit.

Ning Shaosi stood in the snow with a faint lantern.  White fragments fell on his hair and soon melted into beads of water. The dots on his porcelain doll-like face, rendered him all the more exquisite and noble.

He blinked the moist of his eyelashes and looked up at Lou Muge as he emerged from the carriage.

Lou Muge’s feet just touched the ground when he suddenly felt like his soles stepped on false solid ground. He fell into a snow pit. He didn’t know what his chin hit, but he grimaced in pain. 

Ning Shaosi showed amazing strength, lifting him by the back of his collar and lifting him to his feet at once. Before Lou Muge could wonder how, he was up on his feet once more.

Ning Shaosi freed a hand and gently swept away the snow on his body. “Are you hurt from the fall?”

He raised his eyes and found his hand covering his chin, so he lifted his fingers and slightly moved the hand covering it. Then, he saw that Lou Muge’s smooth chin had blood.

Ning Shaosi wiped it with his soft fingertips and found that there was no wound on Lou Muge’s chin.

Lou Muge also noticed the blood on his fingertips. He looked down in surprise and discovered that on the piece of land in the snow pit he had plunged in, there appeared a blinding crimson in the dim light.

Two people squatted down together. Lou Muge reached out and brushed the blood, but the blood appeared alive. It flew to his fingers, like a clump of wriggling bloody worms.

Lou Muge was most sensitive to this kind of bug. He immediately frowned and shook his hands vigorously. However, he didn’t get rid of those bugs. He said in disgust, “What’s this?!”

Ning Shaosi unhurriedly grabbed his shaking hand, pulled out a crescent white brocade handkerchief from his sleeve, and wiped his finger. The blood beads were wiped down after rubbing back and forth two or three times. After wiping it clean, he also wiped the tip of his chin.

Now that the brocade handkerchief was stained with blood, it looked rather like a begonia flower.

Lou Muge’s heart fluttered from the touch of his fingers. The blush that appeared at the corners of his eyes gradually faded, disappearing without a trace.

“It’s a Demon Gu.” Ning Shaosi wrapped his four fingers with a brocade handkerchief and dug up the bloody snow, revealing half of a decayed palm, which seemed to be soaked with blood. It was frighteningly red. He picked up the decayed palm, and the loose snow was nudged away by the bloody bone, exposing half of an arm. The rest was still buried in the snow, so they couldn’t see the whole picture. 

Lou Muge knew what a Demon Gu was.

Gu worms that grew up sucking demon blood were entirely evil. They were sold rampantly in the demon market before, especially when the demon gates were open. Later, after the new Demon King ascended, this kind of thing was hidden and traded in the dark.

The people in the carriages took their things down and saw them squatting on the ground, studying something. They didn’t dare to disturb them, and proceeded noiselessly to the stage. Only Tao Zhai stood in the dark, his eyes grim and cold. He gave the two a couple of glances before lifting his feet to follow the crowd.

Silence settled all around, with only the lantern in Ning Shaosi’s hand illuminating the place. Lou Muge extended his hand as well and pulled upwards, plucking out most of the body of the decayed bone. He raised an eyebrow and said, “Yo, this is a complete corpse.”

Tattered clothes were still hanging on the skeleton, but there wasn’t a stain of blood on them. Lou Muge examined up and down a couple of times and suddenly discovered something strange. “This one seemed to have died for some years.”