Chapter 137

Poxun saw Zhong Ming's expression change rapidly. After a few moments, he directly turned off his phone, looking at him with a complicated expression.

If he wasn't mistaken, there seemed to be... pity in Zhong Ming's gaze?

Ridiculous!

Their demon clan wasn't bound by the Heavenly Dao, their bodies and cultivation quality were top-notch, and their magical power was endless. They were born strong, why would they need pity from these foolish mortals who were led by the nose by the Heavenly Dao?

Moreover, this surprise attack on the Xianyao Sect, spreading the news of the demon clan's presence in the world, had been known by millions of viewers. Now, they must be panicking like crazy!

At a time like this, the ones who should be pitied were the fools who had gone through so much effort to hide the truth and protect those stupid humans!

Over at the Xianyao Sect, Ke Xingzhou looked at the phone handed over by his senior apprentice. He swiped a couple of times, and with an indescribable expression, he looked over at Poxun, his disdain growing: "How come your demon clan's staff can't even write promotional copy? So it really is the case that you don't have nine years of compulsory education?"

Poxun: "?"

What’s this about nine years? What education?

Ke Xingzhou thought to himself, no wonder they wanted to poach his senior apprentice. It turned out they were envious that their Xianyao Sect became an online sensation in just a few months and wanted to replicate their success!

Looking at it this way, his senior apprentice was not only gifted with the Heavenly Eye, but also had strong work skills. At least, when they first revived the Xianyao Sect, there weren't this many people criticizing their sect.

Ke Xingzhou had initially said the salary increase was to encourage his apprentice, but now he thought about it and realized it really should be increased. He moved next to Nie Chen and whispered, "I’m thinking about raising your senior brother’s salary. What do you think?"

Nie Chen gave him a cold look.

Ke Xingzhou: "?"

Looking at his confused expression, Ke Xingzhou knew that he had completely forgotten about the incident with the bow earlier. All the time he had spent sulking was in vain.

He couldn't help but sigh. In the end, he couldn't bear to continue ignoring Ke Xingzhou. "How much?"

Ke Xingzhou didn't understand management, thought for a moment, and shook his head: "You decide."

He had heard that raising wages was an art in itself, with every increase having its own purpose. Ke Xingzhou decided not to complicate things further.

Seeing the complete trust in his eyes, Nie Chen’s last bit of displeasure also disappeared.

Seeing that Ke Xingzhou was being sneaky, still worried about his apprentice finding out that his salary was also controlled by his junior brother and getting upset, Nie Chen couldn't help but feel helpless inside.

How could he be so lovable?

He reached out, pinched Ke Xingzhou's earlobe as a sign of goodwill, and then said, "Hmm, I'll have Assistant Liu adjust his salary structure."Ke Xingzhou nodded, trusting Liu Tezhu to handle things well.

While the master and apprentice were chatting, Poxun had already snatched the phone from Zhu Chu and started browsing through it.

He was initially excited when he saw the news, thinking that the demon clan's great cause was finally going to succeed, but upon seeing the comment section, his expression suddenly changed from bright to cloudy, his face darkening with displeasure.

Poxun's fingers, gripping the phone, began to tremble as he glared angrily at Zhu Chu. "How could this happen?! What’s wrong with your human race? Why can’t you believe in what you can see with your own eyes? We are the demon clan! Aren’t you afraid?!"

Zhu Chu was baffled.

"What's wrong with the demon clan? Aren't they just 007 corporate slaves?" Zhu Chu said nonchalantly. "Maybe the demons there are poorly educated, some of them are a bit over-PTA'd, and they’re being exploited without resistance, which is pretty scary. But what’s more miserable than working hard at a job, going to school, and having your weekend interrupted just to watch a show? The poor working people and students? I don't think your grievances compare."

He paused, "Moreover, your employee’s PR skills are too low. Isn’t it obvious you're just playing with people? The netizens are already being really kind by playing along with your jokes!"

Poxun: "……???"

What are they playing at?!

They are the real demon clan, and they really are going to invade the human world! Ah!!!

However, no one in the room contradicted Zhu Chu. Everyone seemed disappointed in the demon clan.

Poxun: "……"

The divine beasts: "……"

Zhu Chu patted Poxun’s shoulder with a "you still have a lot to learn" expression and turned back to find his master.

Did he just see his junior brother touch his master’s face?

Normally, a hug or a cuddle would be fine, but touching the face is clearly a couple-like gesture. How could his junior brother do that to his master?!

No, he had to teach his junior brother a lesson.

The human world is weak, the ghost world is overcrowded, and right now, the only world strong enough to hold the demon clan back is the demon world. Xiang Ting and the others had previously handed Ashura over to the demon world for imprisonment, and now they were going to escort Poxun there as well.

The demon clan can only transform into their true form or human form, but a live demon this large is hard to transport. After Xiang Ting imposed pressure on Ke Xingzhou to aim his bow at Poxun, Poxun reluctantly transformed into human form and cooperated, walking out of the royal residence with them.

Everyone stood still, waiting for Xuanwu to drive over. The divine beasts, who had been busy for many days, were feeling a bit tired.

Zhong Ming had been working non-stop for several days. He was in charge of many mundane tasks at the Special Incident Bureau and was sent to the front line to eliminate the demon clan. If it weren’t for Poxun's appearance, he would probably be sleeping in his dorm room by now.

This made him even more displeased with Poxun. He glanced at him with a sigh, muttering, "What demon clan, can’t even get an ID card. I don’t know what your subordinates have been doing in the human world for so many years. Now look at this, the great Demon Lord doesn't even have an ID card, making it hard for us to book tickets for you. Do you know how tiring it is to drive all the way here?"

The other divine beasts were also furious.

Poxun: "……"

As the great Demon Lord, Poxun had already been despised countless times today. Now even sitting in a car was making him the target of others' frustration. He hadn’t even exploded yet!

He glared at Zhong Ming and the others, wondering if, without magical power, he could rely on his physical strength to beat them up.

At that moment, he suddenly overheard someone whispering beside him, "So handsome, still with white hair. Which cosplayer is this?"“This height, he’s almost touching the door frame. Is he almost two meters tall? Or maybe 1.9 meters?”

“Still dark-skinned... why does he look better than the few contestants I’ve seen before?”

Poxun noticed the scrutinizing gaze on him and thought they were evaluating him as a product. Immediately, a surge of anger rose in his chest, and he quickly turned his head to stare back at them.

He had expected that the one daring to provoke the Demon King would be some foolish monk with lofty eyes and shallow skills, but when he looked over, he didn’t see anyone with any signs of cultivation.

The group earlier pointing at him were just ordinary people.

When they saw him suddenly looking over, they seemed to freeze for a moment, and then excitedly began discussing again: “Wow, he’s really handsome!”

“When he turned his head just now, his wig didn’t even fall off. I really want to ask him for his wig link…”

“Teacher, can you give me your contact? Are you cosplaying as Demon King Poxun? I’ll bring my self-made Demon King materials to the convention the day after tomorrow, can I get a picture with you for my collection?”

Poxun: “...?”

When they saw he didn’t respond, they thought he was socially anxious. But then they noticed his well-defined chest and abs in front of him and suddenly realized something: “Sorry, sorry! I didn’t know you were a male teacher, really sorry! I’ll avoid you at the convention the day after tomorrow, I’m so sorry!”

After saying that, they bowed and quickly ran off.

Poxun: “???”

He turned his head and saw his reflection in the car window beside him.

Even the Demon King needed to develop his own followers. Poxun used to go to the human world to tempt humans into becoming his vassals. In his human form, he was naturally handsome and perfectly met the human standard of beauty.

Tall, long legs, broad shoulders, narrow waist, and bronze-colored skin, which made his flowing muscles appear even more toned and tempting.

Though he had white hair that was different from most, probably due to modern society’s tolerance, no one cast him odd glances. Instead, they were all amazed and praised him.

He really was quite handsome.

Poxun admired his reflection narcissistically but was still puzzled: “What does '扣死' mean?”

The Taoist priests nearby: “...”

They seemed to recall some bad experiences, their expressions becoming strange. After a moment, one spoke seriously, “It’s something unpleasant.”

Poxun: “?”

Poxun relaxed, raised his chin proudly, and shook his long hair and legs: “Hmph, at least they have some taste.”

The Taoist priests: “...”

The Taoist priests wanted to explain that 'something unpleasant' didn’t mean what he thought, but after a brief hesitation, they gave up on explaining.

Forget it. What’s the point of explaining to a Demon King?

However, Poxun seemed to regain his confidence from the praise of passersby. It wasn’t that he couldn’t do it, but this group of divine beasts had been with humans for too long and had become cunning.

Ordinary humans still feared him!Amidst the mysterious silence of the divine beasts, Xuanwu finally slowly drove the car over.

Poxun, gradually losing himself amid the repeated exclamations from the crowd that didn’t understand the truth, reluctantly followed the divine beasts into the car.

Watching Ke Xingzhou and the others gradually fade away in the rearview mirror, Poxun’s eyes narrowed, his face darkening with a hint of displeasure.

He hadn’t expected that person to still be alive.

Demons are naturally wild and unrestrained, yet they had endured for thousands of years within the Demon Sealing Array. Even though the array had been broken, they didn’t return with great fanfare, clearly due to some concerns. The biggest concern was the existence that had once utterly defeated the demon race and forced them into the Demon Sealing Array.

For more than ten years, they had been developing the evil path in the human world, using the evil path to gather information and intelligence, always thinking that the person had died!

When he saw Ke Xingzhou today, the man didn’t have any aura that resembled that person’s, only a slightly similar demeanor. He even thought that this was a replacement sent by those who had hunted down the demon race thousands of years ago, unable to stop mocking humanity for their incompetence and pitifulness.

But then the man had drawn that bow.

To be honest, the bow wasn’t some ancient artifact; it was ultimately just an ordinary magical tool created by humans themselves.

But in that person’s hands, everything would be different.

Pulling his gaze from the rearview mirror, Poxun glanced at the divine beasts in the car and couldn’t help but snort coldly.

If that person hadn’t been there today, he wouldn’t have been so easily caught.

The divine beasts didn’t pay much attention to his cold snort.

Xuanwu, who was driving, seemed distracted, with the constant sound of message notifications from the divine beasts’ phones. At a red light, he couldn’t help but glance at his phone, and sure enough, the Special Event Handling Bureau’s group chat had exploded.

[Zhongming: Wait, can someone tell me when that person's soul gathered? Is he reincarnated? And has he grown this big?]

[Bifang: Who’s that person? Didn’t you go to trap the demon race? Who did you meet? Qinglong?]

[Qilin: Ask Baihu, he meets with that what’s it called, the Carefree Sect every day. How come you didn’t realize that person was in the Carefree Sect before?]

[Bifang: What does the Carefree Sect have to do with this? The three masters and disciples are all hard to deal with—one has money, one has power, and one has illness. Don’t provoke them.]

Everyone: “…”

[Xiangting: Do you think I’m you?]

[Qilin: ?]

[Qilin: What do you mean? Did you already know? Well, then why have you kept it so tight? Not telling us!]

[Bifang: What are you guys even talking about? Can someone pay attention to me?]

[Xiangting: Why should I tell you?]

[Xiangting: Are you training him to deal with the demon race? Have you forgotten why he was reincarnated?]

[Bifang: Deal with the demon race? Damn! Did you guys meet that person? Isn’t his soul still incomplete? All the heavenly materials and earthly treasures are almost exhausted. Even I sometimes want a bite to enhance my cultivation but can’t get any. When did you guys put him into reincarnation? Didn’t the innkeeper have to track him down to the human world?]

Everyone: “…”The group fell silent again, and the atmosphere in the car grew increasingly heavy.

Bifang didn’t get an answer and sent a string of [??????] to the group.

[Bifang: Are you guys fighting again?]

[Zhu Qian: None of your business, be good, go play.]

[Bifang: Little Zhuque? I’m your elder! You’re just a newly reincarnated little human who hasn’t even received your inheritance memories, and you’re talking to me like that? Retract that message!]

[Zhu Qian: ...Qilin said the demon race was planning to kill you.]

[Bifang: ...]

[Zhu Qian: Some bird was still crying on top of my corpse, saying that in the next life, it would serve me like a horse, without complaint.]

[Bifang: Ah, I suddenly noticed that Poxun seems to be here. I’ll go annoy him a bit, and tear up his butt!]

The crowd slowly turned their heads: “…”

Poxun: “?”

--

Bifang quickly logged out of the social app.

Upon logging out, he saw his dynamic desktop wallpaper—

A thin, tall figure stood atop jagged rocks, pulling the bow in his hands, with his robes fluttering wildly in the fierce wind, as if the wind would knock him off the cliff.

The figure, however, was unaffected, gazing at the demon army below like a black tide, and with pity, released his fingers.

The final arrow.

That arrow seemed to take away all the light in the world. The image quickly darkened, reflecting Bifang’s stunned face.

This was the last scene of the God-Demon War from thousands of years ago. It was not a work filmed by anyone, but a memory made into a reflection stone by Bifang, which was later saved as a segment in human technology.

“Hey, who are you looking for?”

Bifang, who had been staring at his reflection on the screen in a daze, suddenly heard the voice of a child.

He looked up and saw a child, around four or five years old, sitting on the beam of the Huangquan Inn, curiously looking down at him.

Bifang froze for a moment, then responded with a question: “Who are you?”

“Don’t you know who I am?” The child sat cross-legged, pointed to the figure on the second floor, and said, “I am Uncle Liancheng’s little treasure, the last unique weapon spirit under heaven and earth, the gate of the underworld is here!”

Liancheng’s treasure...

Bifang glanced him up and down, speechless, but didn’t object to the statement. However—

“You’re not the last weapon spirit.”Ghost Gate: "?"

He thought to himself, why wasn't he the last weapon spirit? The Life and Death Register and Soul-binding Brush of the Underworld had already lost their weapon spirits in the great battle thousands of years ago. Now, only a mere ten thousand years later, even spiritual intelligence was just beginning to be nurtured.

With the current concentration of spiritual energy, it would be hard to give birth to a new weapon spirit. Who knows how long it would take.

Bifang chuckled, not explaining anything to Ghost Gate, because Liancheng, who had been in meditation on the second floor, woke up.

He raised his hand to greet Liancheng: "Liancheng, long time no see."

Liancheng seemed to be in a good mood, and the cold, distant air that usually pushed people away had softened somewhat. He gave Bifang a faint glance but didn’t mind his tone: "What is it?"

Bifang turned sideways to reveal the group of demons he had been dragging behind him and explained, "These are the demons causing chaos in the human world recently. Our Special Event Handling Bureau has been too busy to watch them, and it’s inconvenient for the Underworld to take them in, so I brought them to you for now."

Liancheng did not respond: "What about the demon race?"

"The demon race has already released two high-ranking demon gods, Ashura and Poxun. If I send this group over, wouldn't I be delivering them straight into their territory?" Bifang said, "Anyway, you’re the only one who can take them... By the way, do you know he’s back?"

Liancheng remained calm, looking down at him.

Bifang couldn’t hide his excitement, his hand holding the phone was trembling: "This time you won’t be able to get ahead of me. I’ll go ask Baihu and the others, and go find him right now! This lifetime, I’ll definitely be his best brother!"

Liancheng: "..."

He moved his lips slightly, seeming to want to say something but stopped.

Bifang didn’t pay attention to him and began dragging the demons into the inn. He then hurriedly transformed into a bird and flew out.

Ghost Gate, holding the rope that bound the demons, looked strangely at Bifang’s receding figure: "Uncle Liancheng, what’s this birdman talking about? I don’t understand anything."

"…"

Not getting a response, he turned around, only to find that Liancheng had sat back down and resumed his meditation without him noticing.

Ghost Gate: "…"

Everyone is so strange… Wait.

He looked at the rope in his hands and the group of demons tied to it, belatedly realizing.

He had been told it was off-duty time, so why was he the one doing the work again?!

--

Ke Xingzhou came out of the bathroom and saw Nie Chen nodding off, leaning against the chair as if about to fall asleep.

The room was quiet. The sunset streamed through the gap in the curtain, casting light on Nie Chen's profile, clearly illuminating the fine hair on his face. The usually indifferent expression softened, showing a glimpse of a once-young lover.

Ke Xingzhou froze for a moment, subconsciously thinking, no wonder he’s been so quiet, not like before when he would act mischievous and go help him wash.

Realizing what he was thinking, Ke Xingzhou quickly snapped out of it, his ears turning red.

He awkwardly cleared his throat, stepped forward, and patted Nie Chen's shoulder, intending to get him back to bed.

When he got closer, he noticed the dark circles under Nie Chen’s eyes, looking like he had been working for a long time without proper rest. Nie Chen, who usually had light sleep, didn’t wake up after two pats from Ke Xingzhou. His breathing remained steady and even, as if he was fast asleep.Ke Xingzhou was a bit suspicious.

Nie Chen had never been a deep sleeper. Since he had the ability to see both yin and yang, he often saw too many mixed things, which would cause him to wake up from nightmares. After he stopped having nightmares, he still couldn’t sleep deeply for long periods; he would wake up as soon as there was any sound.

This had been the case even after returning to the Nie family. Being the heir of a top domestic conglomerate wasn’t easy, and Assistant Liu often said that Nie Chen could only grab brief moments of sleep.

But today…

As he was wondering, Nie Chen's breathing suddenly stopped, followed by a long intake of breath, and he immediately opened his eyes and woke up.

Nie Chen met Ke Xingzhou's gaze, and the confusion in his eyes quickly faded. He was surprised: "Did you finish washing?"

Ke Xingzhou couldn’t help but remember his recent unhealthy thoughts, coughed lightly, and tried to act calm: "Yeah, just finished. What’s up?"

Nie Chen's expression changed, but after glancing at the time, he realized they hadn’t been back to Ke Xingzhou’s place for long, so he knew he hadn’t slept for long. At most, he had only dozed off for a bit.

He calmed down a little, then collected his emotions: "It’s nothing. It’s just a shame I fell asleep."

Ke Xingzhou: "…"

Ke Xingzhou’s ears turned red, and he looked away from Nie Chen: "… I’m going to sleep now."

He paused, then glanced at Nie Chen again, unable to resist speaking up: "If you’re busy, don’t come over here every day. I can see those dark circles under your eyes. I can handle my own stuff now, and if I can’t, there’s always Zhu Chu…"

To his surprise, just as he mentioned it, Nie Chen recalled the bow he had been holding.

He suddenly asked, "Who gave you that bow?"

Ke Xingzhou froze for a moment and pulled the bow out of his pocket: "This one?"

Seeing him carry the bow even while showering and pull it out of his pocket so casually, Nie Chen’s eyes grew even darker. His gray-green eyes reflected a faint greenish glow under the sunset.

Ke Xingzhou somehow felt that Nie Chen was angry.

But was he angry at him?

Nie Chen could tell from Ke Xingzhou’s expression what he was about to do. His anger had already subsided, and now, seeing Ke Xingzhou’s face, all that remained was helplessness.

"It’s nothing," he said, standing up. "If you like it, keep it."

Ke Xingzhou hesitated. If Nie Chen didn’t like it…

Should he secretly use it behind Nie Chen’s back?

Nie Chen saw his hesitation and knew exactly what he was thinking. The anger had already dissipated, leaving only a sense of helplessness.

"Nothing," he repeated, standing up. "If you like it, just use it."

Ke Xingzhou paused for a moment: "Where are you going?"

"To work," Nie Chen pressed his lips together, looked down at Ke Xingzhou, and suddenly felt a twinge in his heart. "You can’t bear to be away from me?"

Without waiting for Ke Xingzhou to respond, Nie Chen lowered his head and briefly kissed his lips, then reached out to pinch his earlobe.

"I’ll come find you after I’m done with work. By then, you won’t be able to shake me off."His eyelashes lowered, and Ke Xingzhou didn't see the unease and dark emotions that quickly flashed in his eyes.