After dinner, Zheng Zhilan carried her bowl away.
In the countryside, there wasn’t the kind of dishwashing sink found in the city, so they washed dishes in the big iron pot by the stove and then rinsed them again after taking them out. Because her eyesight was poor, she had to wash each dish over and over to get them clean.
Zhou Li couldn’t stand watching any longer and walked over to her. "Let help you."
Zheng Zhilan hesitated for a mont before nodding in agreent.
The light was an incandescent bulb, hanging from above with electrical wires, coated with a few strands of cobwebs. It cast an orange-yellow light that revealed the worn marks on the porcelain bowls from long use.
Zheng Zhilan watched him as he washed.
After finishing, the two went to the main hall.
Qinghe was sewing clothes while Huai Xu watched.
The sight of a Demon with a twisted, terrifying face threading a needle with its sharp claws made Zhou Li pause for a mont. Then, not wanting to be rude, he quickly averted his gaze and sat down on the long bench.
He pulled out his phone and glanced at it—chatting and eating had taken up a lot of ti, and before he knew it, it was already nearly 10 PM.
There was only a 3G signal.
He saw the ssage from Aunt Jiang—
Aunt Jiang: The area around Xin Bridge was flooded this afternoon. Is it raining heavily where you are?
Zhou Li: It’s okay, watching the rain in the mountains is wonderful.
The 3G was much slower than he had imagined. The ssage spun around two or three tis before it sent. After thinking for a mont, he replied, "I’ll be careful here. The scenery is very beautiful, so I might stay a few more days before coming back. Don’t worry."
After that, he put away his phone.
Sensing sothing was off, Zhou Li turned his head and found Zheng Zhilan staring at him.
Zhou Li: ...
Zheng Zhilan calmly averted her gaze and said softly, "Did you bring toiletries? If you didn’t, I have spare ones, all new."
"I brought so."
"You can take a shower upstairs; there’s hot water."
"Okay, thank you."
"You’re welco." Zheng Zhilan covered her mouth to stifle a yawn, then asked Zhou Li, "Is it very boring in the mountains?"
"It’s very quiet, pretty nice."
Honestly, I quite like this environnt. I’m not into playing gas or using my phone much, but I’m not sure if my opinion would change if I lived here permanently. Thinking about it, Zheng Zhilan’s eyesight is so poor, and she doesn’t even have a TV here... what must her life be like?
Zhou Li was sowhat baffled.
Perhaps it was a world he couldn’t understand.
Just as he was pondering this, suddenly, another roar ca from the sky, full-bodied and deafening.
It sounds... like it’s right above?
Zhou Li couldn’t help but look up, then glanced at Zheng Zhilan. He saw her face was calm, as if this was normal for her, though it also seed she always wore that expression.
"Does he do that often?" Zhou Li asked curiously.
"Occasionally. It’s raining today; he might like playing with water," Zheng Zhilan replied softly. "He used to do that less often, always lying on the mountaintop sleeping. Maybe it’s because more Demons have been awakening in recent years."
"When did he wake up?"
"Over ten years ago."
"That early!" Huai Xu turned his head to interject. "It might also be that his strength hadn’t fully recovered before. Now that it’s gradually returned to its peak, he’s letting loose."
"That’s possible." Zheng Zhilan nodded.
"May I ask another impertinent question—that being, does *it* possess intelligence?" Huai Xu continued to stare in the direction of the ceiling, sensing the moving vortex of Spiritual Power. He figured only an animal would do sothing like roaming its own territory while yelling.
"It does, I think."
"Have you communicated with it?"
"No."
"And you said it doesn’t talk."
"Right."
"That settles it then. It was once wanted by Demons or humans, clearly a kind of evil Demon," Huai Xu said. "So evil Demons aren’t very intelligent, and their intrinsic aggressiveness leads them to attack. But I don’t think this guy is the type of Demon with high intelligence that disregards life."
"You are also full of starlight," Zheng Zhilan stated.
"What starlight?" Zhou Li asked.
"Demons carry a kind of mark on their bodies, varying in color and size. It’s akin to a Demon’s na. When a Demon is killed, this mark attaches to the murderer, helping other Demons identify the malevolent one. If there are many marks, they look pretty, like twinkling stars," Huai Xu explained to Zhou Li. "I still don’t rember what I did before, but I’m sure I’m not an evil Demon."
"That’s true. Otherwise, you would have been killed by the Evil God the mont you entered the village," Zheng Zhilan said.
"So, it might have so intelligence, but not much, or maybe a certain ability to discern right from wrong."
"Don’t speak ill of him."
"Got it."
Huai Xu continued to watch Qinghe sew clothes.
Qinghe perford a series of actions, and the thread coiled around the cloth like centipede legs. But as he finished sewing and pulled it, all the threads retracted from beginning to end, leaving no trace of the nd.
Huai Xu was dumbfounded.
anwhile, Zheng Zhilan yawned again. She looked at Zhou Li. "It seems I can only talk to you about the basics of cultivation tomorrow. I’m not very alert right now, and it’s also too late. But we can chat for a bit. What would you like to eat tomorrow? How do you want the lamb? Boiled, in soup, or grilled? I can make all of those."
Zhou Li felt apologetic. "If you’re tired, you should go to sleep first."
No sooner had he spoken than Huai Xu turned his head to look at him.
Zheng Zhilan clearly seed reluctant to leave, but she nodded. "Then I’ll go wash up first. Make yourself at ho. The signal in the mountains might not be very good; you can try it."
"Okay."
Zhou Li nodded.
Zheng Zhilan left. Soon after, Qinghe, having finished sewing the clothes, also departed. Zhou Li remained seated, watching the rain outside, and gradually felt a chill creep in.
「An hour later.」
Zhou Li stood by the door of the room.
They were staying on the second floor.
The room must have belonged to Zheng Zhilan’s parents or elders in the past. It was spacious but clearly hadn’t been lived in for a long ti. Although Zheng Zhilan had cleaned it thoroughly, Zhou Li could still sll a bit of dust and mold.
Zhou Li didn’t mind. Looking at the neatly made wooden bed and the floor bedding next to it, he said, "I’ll sleep on the floor bedding; you take the bed."
"No! I’ll sleep on the floor bedding, by the window, just in case that guy goes crazy in the middle of the night and I need to run!"
"Okay."
The light in the room quickly went out.
Zhou Li noticed that there was also a lamp in the courtyard that stayed on all night; fortunately, the curtains blocked the light well.
On this rainy night, the whole world seed to echo with sound. Yet, amidst the clamor, there was a sense of tranquility.
Huai Xu’s voice sounded, unusually not from above Zhou Li’s head, "Zhou Li, I really think that girl is up to sothing with you. Look, she just slaughtered a chicken and now she plans to slaughter a lamb tomorrow."
To him, this was a grand gesture.
The kind of hospitality reserved for a son-in-law.
Zhou Li grimaced. "Wasn’t it you who wanted to eat lamb?"
"Nonsense."
"...Stop making things up."
"I’m serious." Huai Xu turned on his side, propping up his upper body and staring at Zhou Li as if he were peeking from the top bunk at ho. "I suspect she plans to trap you with gourt food first, and she’s quite attractive too, then step by step she’ll lure you into her tender nest..."
"Tender traps."
"Oh right, tender traps! Then you’ll end up marrying her and staying in this mountain village forever!" Huai Xu emphasized. "That can’t happen! You’re supposed to go to college!"
"...Go to sleep."
"I an it! Zhou Li, you need to keep a hold of yourself. Going to college is not sothing to joke about!"
"...Good night."
Suddenly, there was another roar outside.
Huai Xu sighed and started mumbling again, "Ah, this is really... Is it trying to keep people from sleeping? But I think this guy is the real deal. He was probably a powerful Demon that caused widespread resentnt and fury in ancient tis. Otherwise, what could such a Great Demon have done to end up in such a state? If he were let out, TSK TSK, the consequences would be unimaginable!"
Zhou Li opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling. "You an to say..."
"Not necessarily."
While pondering, Huai Xu continued, "She might not want to release this Demon to wreak havoc on the world. Or perhaps she doesn’t want him to get out, only to be discovered again and then exterminated. Of course, it’s also possible that after spending so much ti with the Demon, she has developed feelings for him. That could be why she stays here, accompanying and worshiping him."
Zhou Li didn’t respond.
Huai Xu spoke up again, "You’re not sleeping now? Do you think what I just said makes sense? Those who aim for great things must not get entangled in romance."
Zhou Li: ...
「anwhile, in a room on the first floor.」
Qinghe silently sat by the window. He didn’t need to sleep. Zheng Zhilan, lying on the bed, also hadn’t fallen asleep after a long while.
She was struggling with insomnia, which was rare for her.
Suddenly, she turned her head and whispered softly, "Qinghe, what do people look like in your eyes?"
Qinghe paused.
Fortunately, he knew Zheng Zhilan well enough. After thinking, he turned his head. "Hair, each strand distinct. White skin, covered in fine hairs. Eyes, with eyelashes above them—they look nice. Eyebrows. Lips with lines..."
He wasn’t human; he produced human language using the organs of another kind of creature, so his voice sounded very strange.
Zheng Zhilan listened attentively.
Her eyes had been like this since birth. Eighteen years ago, Demons were very rare—exceedingly so. To her, the entire world was a blur. Adults always said it was because her mother had been exposed to radiation at a factory during pregnancy. This exposure, they claid, caused her to be born partially blind and her mother to suffer a difficult delivery. Zheng Zhilan had always believed this to be true.
Until one day at a temple festival, she saw a colossal beast napping behind the Evil God Temple.
The Monster looked fierce and terrifying, and she found it very frightening too.
She knew she shouldn’t have felt that way.
As ti passed, she began to recognize a pattern: she could see those extraordinary beings, and see them very clearly. The stronger and more unique the creature, the clearer it appeared to her.
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